{"id":1930,"date":"2026-01-28T18:10:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/?p=1930"},"modified":"2026-01-28T18:10:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:10:37","slug":"january-newsletter-letter-from-the-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/2026\/01\/28\/january-newsletter-letter-from-the-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"January Newsletter &#8211; Letter from the Chair"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hello, friends!<\/p>\n<p>We kicked off the 2025-2026 academic year with our annual Summer Picnic at Quincy Park in Arlington, VA. Our many alumni enjoyed delicious food and lots of fun! This year\u2019s Fall garden party, called YARrden, was hosted by the School of Architecture and celebrated the UVA Architecture in China program. It was wonderful to see both old and new faces. We also had some fun events, like the Dumpling Dialogue and Alumni Mixer.<\/p>\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/aapaanatuva\/\">Instagram<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/1337996324037855\/?rdid=Qkni5JZiyiBgtFDX&amp;share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2Fg%2F1FfF9Q6uwB%2F\">Facebook<\/a> \u2014we\u2019ll keep you in the loop with all the latest news about our events!<\/p>\n<p><strong>We\u2019re excited to announce that we\u2019re opening applications for our four $5,000 AAPAAN scholarships for the 2026-2027 academic year!<\/strong> Please <a href=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/aapaan-scholarships\/\">visit our scholarship application page<\/a> to learn more. Don\u2019t forget to share this information with any eligible students or their parents.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also, we are <a href=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/awards\/aapi-advancement-award\/\">seeking nominations<\/a> for our biennial AAPI faculty award.<\/strong> You can find more details on our <a href=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/awards\/aapi-advancement-award\/\">AAPI award page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>See our <a href=\"https:\/\/acrobat.adobe.com\/id\/urn:aaid:sc:US:0abbbaeb-b226-4153-870f-151ba90f024c\">2024-2025 annual report<\/a>, which demonstrates how UVA\u2019s Asian and Asian Pacific American Alumni Network (AAPAAN) remained dedicated to its mission of establishing a network that fosters connections and provides support for Asian alumni within the University of Virginia community.<\/p>\n<p>Our work is not possible without your support,\u202fand I hope you\u2019ll continue to help\u202fus with a\u202ffinancial donation. Have an idea for an event or\u202finitiative? We\u2019re always looking for volunteers\u202fto turn vision into reality. To get involved with\u202fAAPAAN, or just to share your thoughts, please\u202freach out to me\u202fat <a href=\"mailto:randywong.alumni.virginia@gmail.com\">randywong.alumni.virginia@gmail.com<\/a>,\u202for check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/get-involved\/\">\u201cGet Involved\u201d webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Wahoowa!<br \/>\n<strong>Randy Wong (<abbr title=\"School of Architecture\">Arch<\/abbr> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">class of <\/span>\u201982)<\/strong><br \/>\nAAPAAN Chair<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello, friends! We kicked off the 2025-2026 academic year with our annual Summer Picnic at Quincy Park in Arlington, VA. Our many alumni enjoyed delicious food and lots of fun! This year\u2019s Fall garden party, called YARrden, was hosted by the School of Architecture and celebrated the UVA Architecture in China program. It was wonderful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aapaan-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>January Newsletter - Letter from the Chair - Asian and Asian Pacific American Alumni Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/2026\/01\/28\/january-newsletter-letter-from-the-chair\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kiki McLaughlin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/january-newsletter-letter-from-the-chair\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/28\\\/january-newsletter-letter-from-the-chair\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kiki McLaughlin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/56e4d4887754d111218b120270d4033e\"},\"headline\":\"January Newsletter &#8211; 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