Historian Erika Lee to discuss the future of U.S. immigration law and public policy
Tue, April 24 2018, 11:30am
UMRA Lunch - Campus Club
Who is a U.S. citizen? Who is welcome in our country? Should undocumented immigrants brought here as children be deported? These questions are among the toughest that divide us as a nation today. The future of our national immigration policy and treatment of immigrants, refugees, and undocumented immigrants are issues that are under weighty debate and scrutiny from the Oval Office to Congress, and in state legislatures and city halls across the nation. How does our past play into this debate? How does our history inform who will be U.S. citizens in the 21st century?
Attend the UMRA luncheon on April 24 to hear Dr. Erika Lee, an award-winning American historian and recognized leader in the field of immigration history, speak on U.S. immigration history and its implications for today and our future. A Distinguished McKnight Professor and holder of the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History, Dr. Lee is the director of the U’s Immigration History Research Center. Her scholarly specialties include migration, race and ethnicity, Asian Americans, immigration law and public policy.
Her most recent book, The Making of Asian America: A History, published in English in 2015 and Chinese in 2018, has received several awards, including an “Editors’ Choice” recommendation from The New York Times.
A productive scholar, Dr. Lee has authored two additional award-winning books and numerous articles. Soon after the 2016 presidential election, she produced, together with immigration history colleagues, #ImmigrationSyllabus, an online tool to help faculty, teachers, students, and the general public better understand the history of immigration in the United States and prepare for participation in the current debate.
Dr. Lee has been recognized with numerous national and university fellowships and awards for her scholarship, teaching, and outreach. In 2016, she was named one of 25 “pioneering women making a difference in academia and beyond” by Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine.
The granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, Dr. Lee grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and earned her Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley. We are fortunate to have Dr. Lee in our University community and as our speaker for UMRA’s April luncheon.
—Kathleen O’Brien, Program Committee
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