Asian American Cultural Center Staff

Full-Time Staff

David Chih, Director of the Asian American Cultural Center | Assistant Dean of Students

David Chih is the Director of the Asian American Cultural Center and since 1998 has been Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and B.A. in East Asian studies and psychology from Indiana University. He received a M.S. in psychology from Purdue University. Prior to coming to Illinois, he was a pre-doctoral psychology intern at the Michigan State University Counseling Center. His professional interests involve Asian Americans in higher education, Asian American college student development, hate violence prevention, multicultural counseling and training. At the U of I, he has received the Student Affairs Outstanding Staff Award and the Outstanding Asian American Faculty-Staff Award. He has served on the Board of Advisors for the Midwest Asian American Student Union (MAASU), on the board of directors of the Chinese American Association of Central Illinois, and has been a leadership trainer for the Organization of Chinese Americans. He is a second generation Chinese American and grew up in Bloomington, Indiana.

May Kao Xiong, Assistant Director

May Kao Xiong joined our staff in January 2007 as the new Assistant Director of the Asian American Cultural Center. She is a 1999 alumna of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who earned a B.A. in history and political science. She also earned a M.A. in history from the University of Missouri at Columbia. She was most recently employed at Rape Crisis Services in Champaign as a prevention education coordinator. Concerned especially with social justice and community building, she has worked with Vietnamese American refugees and with survivors of sexual assault. Her broader professional interests include ending sexual violence against women and children, and fighting for justice in immigration issues. May is a Hmong American, who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, and grew up in Danville, Illinois.

Eddie Paje, Program Coordinator

Eddie Paje is originally from Hawai'i and grew up in San Diego, California. Coming from a multi-racial background with Filipino, Samoan, and Irish ancestry, he strives to be an active voice for under-represented groups to the access and equity to higher education. The first in his family to attend a university, he received a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from San Diego State University, and a master's degree in leadership studies in higher education with an emphasis in multicultural affairs from the University of San Diego. Eddie has several years experience working in higher education, including as academic advisor, program counselor, program assistant, and office coordinator at the University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and Chaminade University of Honolulu. He has professional experience working to prevent hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents and as an advisor and leader in Pacific Islander and Filipino American organizations. Furthermore, he has served on the governing board for Hui 'O Hawai'i, and has worked for the Union of Pan Asian Communities to encourage at-risk youth to further their education, both in the San Diego Asian Pacific American community.

JoAnne Ramirez, Secretary

JoAnne Ramirez joined our staff in July 2006 as our new secretary. Her duties include reception, building operations, and maintaining records. For the past four years, she has worked at Illinois in the College of ACES Office of Advancement. She earned a Bachelor's degree in English and a Master's degree in English as a Second Language, both from Southern Illinois University. She also brings many years of experience teaching, counseling, and program management including teaching English to new Asian immigrants in Southern California.

Student Staff

Graduate Assistant

Sarah Okner

Interns

Avni Danak
Monika Narayen
Viraj Patel

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