Anushka Chakrabarti | July 1, 2023
King-Kok Cheung, professor emeritus of English and Asian American studies at UCLA, received the Association for Asian American Studies lifetime achievement award late April for her contributions to the fields of Asian American and Pacific Islander studies.
Cheung was born and raised in Hong Kong before coming to UC Berkeley to earn her Ph.D. in English. In 1984, Cheung was the first woman of color in the humanities division and the first faculty member of Asian descent to join the English department at UCLA. She is the author of “Articulate Silences” and “Chinese American Literature without Borders.”
“I feel that my greatest contribution to UCLA and to Los Angeles is pioneering and coordinating the UCLA Cluster Program course on interracial dynamics in American law, history and society. The class is still alive and well,” Cheung said.
She said she was really happy to receive the award and having her students present to watch her receive the distinction. She felt that seeing all her students from over the years made the experience particularly valuable for her.
“I feel very honored. And seeing students from the last 40 years was such a blessing. For me, that is much more important than any award,” Cheung said.
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