Leadership Team
Greeting
Welcome to the APA Studies program! We are a community of students, teachers, and scholars built on a shared interest in APA people's experiences. Our events are driven by our community's needs that are broadly and critically relevant. Please come see us at one of our events and get involved! Naoko Wake, Director
After completing her B.A. and M.A. at Kyoto University, Japan, Naoko Wake received her Ph.D. in history from Indiana University, Bloomington. She is the author of American Survivors: Trans-Pacific Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Cambridge, 2021) and Private Practices: Harry Stack Sullivan, the Science of Homosexuality, and American Liberalism (Rutgers, 2011), and also a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s STS Grant, the Association for Asian Studies’ NEAC Grant, and the Huntington Library’s Dibner Research Fellowship. She has taught at Michigan State since 2005 and loves yoga, cooking, and gardening. As the Director of the APA Studies Program, Prof. Wake teaches MC/HST 319 Asian American History and occasionally offers a graduate independent reading seminar in Asia Pacific Islander Desi American History (HST 880 or 990).
Director, APA Studies
Sujin Lee is a junior studying comparative cultures and politics with an APA Studies minor. She is actively involved in the APIDA community on campus with alpha Kappa Delta Phi Asian-interest sorority and DreaMSU, an immigrant rights advocacy organization. As the Program Assistant for APA Studies, she is on the planning team for the APA Studies Symposium, while also assisting in other program aspects as needed.
Program Assistant, APA Studies
Nicole Koyuki Golden is a PhD student in Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures studying the intersections of identity, Japanese Americans, and technical communication. Her most recent research project centered on how Japanese Americans of 1.5-generation and mixed-race designations articulated identities in the digital landscape of podcasting. As the Program Assistant for APA Studies, she supports with the APA Studies website, the newsletter, and other program aspects as needed.
Program Assistant, APA Studies