Professor Omatsu with students at the Asian American Open House, October 2003.
Asian
American Studies is important for its role in transforming
education from existing models; serving needs of communities;
and changing relations of power in society.
- Lecturer and Faculty Mentor Program Coordinator, Equal Opportunity Program (EOP)
- Office: 205 University Hall [map of south campus]
- Phone: 818-677-4151
- Fax: 818-677-7094
- Email:
- Campus Mailcode: 8251
- Curriculum Vitae [pdf download]
Education
- University of California, Santa Cruz (19??)
- East Los Angeles College (19??)
Scholarship Highlights
- "Teaching about Asian Pacific Americans: Effective Activities,
Strategies, and Assignments for Classrooms and Communities," co-editor
with Professor Edith
Chen - "Grassroots Rising: Asian Immigrant Workers in Los Angeles" -- academic advisor for Visual Communications film directed by Robert Winn
- "Voices from Bridge 2005" -- collection of essays by EOP Bridge students from my AAS class
- "Freedom Schooling: Reconceptualizing Asian American Studies for Our Communities," Amerasia Journal 29:2 (2003)
- "Asian Americans: The Movement and the Moment," co-editor with Steve Louie
Prof. Omatsu, co-editor of Asian Americans: The Movement and the Moment.
During this past summer, Professor Omatsu taught an introductory Asian American class and a developmental reading and writing class for the CSUN Summer Bridge Program, which for the past ten years has assisted more than 2,000 entering freshman of color to succeed at CSUN. This summer marked the first year that Asian American students were recruited for the program.
"My first experience with Asian American Studies was doing solidarity work for the SF State student strike in 1968."
Professor Omatsu is active with campus, community and labor groups and solidarity networks. At UCLA, he serves as associate editor of Amerasian Journal, research publication in Asian American Studies, and editor of Cross Currents, newsmagazine of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. He also teaches classes on investigative journalism and Asian American Social Movements. He is a graduate of East Los Angeles College and University of California, Santa Cruz.