Assemblymember Phil Ting Congratulates Distinguished APIA Honoree andSan Franciscan, Chancellor Frank Wu
San Francisco – Assemblymember Philip Y. Ting (D-SF) highlighted May as Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) Heritage Month today by acknowledging Frank Wu, a distinguishedrecipient of this year’s California Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus Awards. Wu is the Chancellor and Dean of UC Hastings School of Law in San Francisco.
“My friend Frank Wu is the son of immigrants who has risen to the pinnacles of American higher education leadership,” Ting said. “He is dedicated to civic engagement and volunteer service, and his writings and influence have made a difference in countless APIA communities as they struggle for equality. Dear to my heart is his intellectual pursuit of civil justice issues and his advocacy for constructive relations between the peoples of the United States and Greater China.”
Wu is the author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, and co-author of Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment, which received a major grant from the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund. He was appointed by the federal Department of Education to its National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which advises the administration on higher education accreditation, and by the Defense Department to the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, which submitted to Congress the report “From Representation to Inclusion”. He also served as a trustee of Gallaudet University, the only university in the world dedicated to deaf and hard of hearing persons, and he served on the Board of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund. Chancellor Wu is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
“The APIA community, San Francisco and California are fortunate to have such an eminent scholar in our midst,” added Ting. “I’m a proud member of the California State Legislature’s APIA Caucus, and our selection of Frank Wu as a distinguished honoree could not be more appropriate. He now officially has an esteemed place in California history.”
The California State Assembly celebrates May as APIA Heritage Month by commending California’s Asian & Pacific Islander American community for their notable accomplishments and outstanding service to the state. Awards are presented to distinguished APIAs during a special floor ceremony dedicated to honoring leaders who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of public service, mental health, higher education, journalism, ethnic studies, culinary arts, and civil rights. This year’s award recipients are:
Speaker of the Assembly John A. Pérez, Leadership and Vision Award; Associate Justice Goodwin Liu, California State Supreme Court, Excellence in Law; Chancellor and Dean Frank Wu, UC Hastings School of Law, Excellence in Education; Acting Director Sharon Hoshida, UC Santa Barbara Women’s Center, Excellence in Public Service; Legislative Director Angie Wei, California Federation of Labor, Excellence in Labor; Sammy Lee, U.S. Olympic double gold medalist in diving, Excellence in Sports.
Assemblymember Ting is the Chair of Assembly Democratic Caucus and the Assembly Select Committee on Asia/California Trade and Investment Promotion, and he serves on the Budget, Business, Professions and Consumer Protection, Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials and the Revenue and Taxation committees.