photo by Darrell Miho
The founders of the APAA (left to right): Karen Wong, Frank Kwan, Mary Kurushina, Alan Kumamoto and Kenneth Kasamatsu. Missing: Michael Matsuda, Dennis Kunisaki, Sarah Miyahira and Irene Hirano. At far right is Grace Shiba ‘77, APAA’s incoming president.

Issue: Summer 2003

Once and Future Successes

The USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. It began with the mighty efforts of a select few.

“This dinner was a chance to celebrate our origins, our roots and the people who helped all of us get to this point,” says Frank Kwan ’71. “It was a celebration of the past, the present and the future.”

Last November, the USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association hosted its 20th Anniversary Awards and Scholarship Benefit Dinner to celebrate two decades of mentoring, scholarship assistance and consciousness-raising. Titled “The Legacy of Leadership,” the dinner also served to honor the accomplishments of APAA’s nine founders: Irene Hirano ’70, MPA ’73, Ken Kasamatsu ’68, Alan Kumamoto, Dennis Kunisaki, Mary Kurushima, Kwan (APAA’s current president), Michael Matsuda ’82, Sarah Miyahira and Karen Wong ’82, JD ’86. Each received a Founders Recognition Award, presented to them by associate vice president of alumni relations Judith Blumenthal MBA ’84, PhD ’88.

Close to 300 people turned out for the event, which also featured the presentation of scholarship and service awards, as well as theater and musical performances.

In praising the alumni organization, President Steven B. Sample said, “I am impressed by the array of personal and professional development programs the association is introducing. These programs offer our Asian-American alumni tremendous opportunities to network with each other, to serve as resources for the university, and in turn to take advantage of USC’s resources.”

The origins of the APAA were admittedly modest ones. In 1982, the APAA began as the Asian Pacific American Support Group, a tiny assemblage of volunteers formed as an ancillary to the on-campus Asian Pacific American Student Services. The nine originators founded the APASG out of “a motivation to make sure that current students had the resources that were not available to us as either undergrads or grads,” says Kwan. Kumamoto (who served as APASG’s first president) elaborates: “At the time, there were certain problems that [Asian] students were experiencing. They have Asian faces but are ‘Americanized.’ They’re not foreign students, yet they need some adjustment. There was a lack of counseling at the time.”

The specific mission of the APASG was two-tiered: strengthen the internal support offered to current USC Asian Pacific students, and create an external support system that reconnected alumni back to the university. “A large number of alumni had not maintained a connection with USC, and we thought it was a great way to provide a vehicle,” says Hirano.

For the first few years, the organization hosted a modest two events a year, mostly geared towards raising awareness of the group. By 1984, the founders had partnered with the APASS and garnered enough donations to establish the APASG scholarship fund; and in 1985 the endowment awarded its first scholarships to seven undergraduate students. Thus began the group’s history of outreach.

During that time, however, the founders took nothing for granted. Faced with little outside funding and a very low profile, the group’s viability was far from guaranteed.

“We were just concerned with surviving,” says Kasamatsu.

But the group kept at it. Besides, says Kumamoto with a laugh, “We weren’t limited, because we were just ‘the public’ – they couldn’t fire us.”

In fact, it was the limitless enthusiasm of the founders that allowed APASG to develop into the thriving institution it is today. Since 1985, the organization has distributed between $30,000 and $40,000 in scholarship funds to deserving Asian and Pacific Islander students. Today it awards a total of 12 separate named scholarships and offers additional financial assistance to those with demonstrated need.

The group also hosts a broad and diverse set of activities. Its board of directors is currently split into three committees: the signature events committee, which handles fund-raising events and awards dinners; the networking events committee, which organizes Homecoming and career networking events, among other happenings; and the scholarship committee, which advocates mentorship between alumni and students while also distributing funds.

Additionally, two special initiative committees are working on the organization’s newest programs: the Women’s Leadership Development and the Trojan Fathers and Families. The former created a yearlong lecture program titled “My Journey as an Asian-American Woman,” which has featured talks from author Helen Zia and television director and producer Wendy Fong ’75, among others; the latter, chaired by Kwan, has begun to develop activities geared towards promoting positive relations between Asian and Pacific Islander fathers and their children.

In 2001, the APASG also gained in stature when the organization moved under the umbrella of the USC Alumni Association, becoming the Asian Pacific Alumni Association. May P. Ma came on board as the group’s first full-time director, and she has been instrumental in helping to raise the group’s profile.

Describing the future goals of the organization, Ma says, “The APAA hopes to connect increasingly more USC Asian Pacific alumni through the development of meaningful programs.”

The future looks bright, but the nine founders, all of whom have stayed active with the group, still see much to accomplish. Each articulate aggressive future goals such as expanding the number of APAA clubs and events, both locally and internationally, and raising the group’s profile within the university.

For one evening in November, though, they were allowed to rest on their laurels.

This American’s Life
The annual “Trojans of Ebony Hue” exhibit offered insight into the life and career of USC alumna Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

Yvonne Brathwaite Burke JD ’56 poses at the entrance to the Doheny Library exhibit about her life and work.
Photo by Leroy Hamilton

As an attorney and politician, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke JD ’56 has been a trailblazer for women and minorities for more than 35 years. Her accomplishments received their due at the eighth annual “Trojans of Ebony Hue” exhibit, titled “Yvonne Brathwaite Burke: A Life in Politics.” The exhibit was held to coincide with Black History Month.

Drawing from newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, ephemera and personal papers that Burke had donated to USC’s Regional History Collection, the exhibit, held at Doheny Memorial Library, offered an intimate glimpse into the life and career of one of California’s most noted political figures. Photos over the years captured Burke interacting with public figures such as civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., labor leader Cesar Chavez and former President Bill Clinton. One piece of memorabilia revealed Burke’s early political ambitions: “Yvonne Watson for Girls’ Judge” read a campaign poster created by a 12-year-old Burke.

To honor her achievements, the City of Los Angeles and Mayor James K. Hahn declared March 12 “Yvonne Brathwaite Burke Day.” On that day, close to 100 community leaders, alumni, faculty and staff gathered to pay tribute to her legacy at a reception held at Town and Gown on the University Park campus.

“During the distinguished course of your career, you have brought honor to USC,” said USC President Steven B. Sample.

Burke has been at the vanguard of the civil-rights and feminist movements her entire career. While working as an attorney in Los Angeles in the early 1960s, she fought segregation in real estate laws and served on the staff of the McCone Commission, which was established to investigate the 1965 Watts riots. In 1966, she became the first African-American woman in the California legislature, and in 1972 she was the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress. During that time, she also became the first woman elected to chair the Congressional Black Caucus. Burke achieved another “first” by giving birth to her daughter, Autumn ’82, while in office.

In 1992, Burke assumed her current position as Los Angeles county supervisor for the second district. A year later, she became the first African-American woman to serve as chair of the Los Angeles County board of supervisors.

Burke has also blazed trails as a USC alumna. In 1975, she was elected to the USC Board of Trustees, the first African-American to serve on the board.

The exhibit gave visitors a chance to revel in Burke’s accomplishments.

“This USC alumna … continues to serve as an inspiration and role model for people of every color and persuasion to this day,” says Jerry D. Campbell, chief information officer and dean of USC Libraries, which co-sponsored the exhibit with the USC Black Alumni Association.

USC BAA director Lura Ball ’79 was grateful that Burke agreed to put her life on display. “She has been a personal hero to me,” says Ball.


This Magic Moment

Photo by Leroy Hamilton

It was all smiles when basketball great Magic Johnson (center) met with members of the USC Black Alumni Association Board of Directors, from left: Joyce Sumbi ’60, Cynthia Brockman-Coleman ’92, Monique Hunter Dennis ’79 and Pat Holloway ’85. Magic was a featured speaker in the “Real World

Leadership Series,” a lecture series sponsored by the USC BAA, the Black Business Student Association and the USC Office of Admission.


USC Represented

Photo by Leroy Hamilton

In December, President Steven B. Sample attended the swearing-in ceremony of Mark Ridley-Thomas ’72, PhD ’89, the newly elected representative to the California State Assembly’s 48th district. A lifelong Los Angeles resident, Ridley-Thomas served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1991 to 2002 and spent a decade before that as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles. The ceremony took place at USC’s Town and Gown.


Trojan Family Jewel

Photo by Shirley Johnstone '52

USC journalism professor Murray Fromson (right) and his wife, Dodi, enjoyed the view atop Hong Kong’s Victoria Peak with Plato Grivas ’52, MD ’56 and his wife, Pat. Fromson, a former Korean and Vietnam war correspondent, was the featured guest of the USC Trojan Travel trip “Jewels of Southeast Asia.”


A Ram-bunctious New Year


Members of the USC Hong Kong Alumni Club channeled the Spirit of Troy while ushering in the Year of the Ram in February. At the city’s annual Chinese New Year Parade, they championed their alma mater with a splash of cardinal and gold. Joining them were visiting Trojans, including travelers on the Trojan Travel “Chinese New Year” trip (above, center) and USC trustee Ronnie Chan (not shown). Members of the Trojan Marching Band were also on hand, taking part in the holiday parade and related festivities on invitation from the Hong Kong Board of Tourism.


Stooping to a New Level

Photo by Norm Schneider

The USC Rossier School of Education saluted one of its own in December, honoring Emery Stoops on the occasion of his 100th birthday at the school’s annual holiday reception. Stoops, distinguished professor emeritus of educational administration, taught at USC for 17 years and also served as alternate chair of the school’s department of educational administration and supervision. In 1994, he and his wife, Joyce King-Stoops, endowed the dean’s chair in the USC Rossier School. “Emery has put his heart and soul into supporting USC in more ways than I can mention,” remarked dean Karen Symms Gallagher at the event. She then presented Stoops with a certificate of recognition, which noted his “great commitment, generosity and loyalty.”


Digital Dreamin’


Nikias (second from left) stands with, from left, Kaezad Mehta ’88, MS ’89, Derek Mann ’96 and Sarrazolla.

“Hollywood, the cornerstone of the California Dream, needs to evolve quickly or risk extinction,” USC School of Engineering dean C.L. Max Nikias told USC alumni at the San Diego Historical Society in February.

The founding director of the Integrated Media Systems Center at USC (IMSC), Niklias spoke about emerging digital technologies and their profound impact on the production and distribution of film and television programming.

His presentation, “Time for a New Hollywood,” was co-sponsored by the USC School of Engineering and the USC Alumni Club of San Diego and coincided with the historical society’s exhibit, “Filming San Diego: Hollywood’s Backlot.” Close to 90 alumni attended the gathering, which included a reception with Nikias and a private tour of the exhibit.

Ann Hill ’71, MA ’74, president-elect of the USC Alumni Association and an advisor to the USC Alumni Club of San Diego, lauded the event and Nikias’ presentation. “Dean Nikias is knowledgeable on so many aspects of technology, of interest to engineers and all USC alumni,” she said. “I think one of the reasons the event was such a big success was because the future of Hollywood is intriguing to everyone, and so important to California.”

Carl Sarrazolla ’84, president of the USC Alumni Club of San Diego and an alumnus of the USC Engineering School, said the event rose out of the club’s desire to “do something different” for its more than 650 members. He called the feedback from club members “incredible” and said the USC Alumni Club of San Diego will continue to diversify its activities in the future.


Backstage in Marin

Photo by Dale S. Komai '74

In February, USC Alumni Club of Marin members took in the professional world premiere of Fugitive Kind, a previously undiscovered Tennessee Williams play. The performance and backstage reception, which took place at the Marin Theatre Company, were part of a club effort to raise scholarship money for USC students. Above, club treasurer Elaine Marevich ’72 and secretary Jack Thrift ’95 stand with Lee Sankowich (center), artistic director of the theater company and the man who first unearthed the play’s manuscript in the Williams estate archives.


London Callings

Photo by Shahdiya Kureshi '96

A panel of distinguished USC alumni offered career advice to more than 70 fellow Trojans during a “Trojans in London” celebration at the historic Texas Embassy in Piccadilly. The February event drew four generations of alumni, including undergraduate students studying in the U.K. and Europe. Pictured from left to right: moderator Keith Werner MBA ’95, writer Ade Solanke MFA ’94, financial manager Patricia Hanisee ’98, communication consultant Meribeth Dayme PhD ’74 and public relations executive Fran Valmana MA ’91.