{"id":1978,"date":"2026-04-03T15:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/?p=1978"},"modified":"2026-05-28T15:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T19:57:13","slug":"congratulations-to-professor-sylvia-chong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/2026\/04\/03\/congratulations-to-professor-sylvia-chong\/","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations to Professor Sylvia Chong!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>We are super excited to announce AAPAAN\u2019s 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/awards\/aapi-advancement-award\/\">AAPI Advancement Award<\/a> recipient: Professor Sylvia Chong!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The award honors faculty at the University of Virginia for their contributions to the AAPI community, and the recipient is chosen by alumni through an online nomination and voting process.<\/p>\n<p><strong>We will honor Professor Chong at the <a href=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/asian-alumni-weekend\/details\/\">AAPAAN Celebration Dinner<\/a> event on April 25, from 7-10 p.m. EDT, part of Asian Alumni Weekend.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #232d4b\">About Sylvia Chong<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/files\/updated-sylvia-chong-headshot.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1940 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/files\/updated-sylvia-chong-headshot-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Professor Sylvia Chong\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/files\/updated-sylvia-chong-headshot-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/aig.uvaalumni.org\/aapaan\/files\/updated-sylvia-chong-headshot.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/americanstudies.as.virginia.edu\/people\/sylvia-chong\">Professor Sylvia Chong<\/a> is Associate Professor of English and American Studies and Director of Minor in Asian Pacific American Studies. She has made extraordinary and lasting contributions to AAPI culture and community at UVA. As the founder of the <a href=\"https:\/\/americanstudies.as.virginia.edu\/minor-asian-pacific-american-studies\">Asian Pacific American Studies minor<\/a>, she built the intellectual and institutional foundation for Asian American studies on Grounds, creating opportunities for generations of students to engage critically with AAPI histories, identities, and cultures. She has mentored countless Asian American undergraduate and graduate students, offering guidance, advocacy, and a sense of belonging. Her scholarship is widely recognized as groundbreaking in the field, expanding national conversations about race and representation in U.S. cultural history.<\/p>\n<p>Just as importantly, Professor Chong has shown a deep and sustained commitment to UVA\u2019s Asian American student population, as reflected in her <a href=\"https:\/\/news.virginia.edu\/content\/race-so-different-asians-and-asian-americans-uvas-history\">work featured in <em>UVA Today<\/em><\/a> examining the university\u2019s complex history with Asians and Asian Americans.<\/p>\n<p>She is not only a leading scholar but also a dedicated community builder whose impact on AAPI relations at UVA is profound and enduring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are super excited to announce AAPAAN\u2019s 2026 AAPI Advancement Award recipient: Professor Sylvia Chong! The award honors faculty at the University of Virginia for their contributions to the AAPI community, and the recipient is chosen by alumni through an online nomination and voting process. We will honor Professor Chong at the AAPAAN Celebration Dinner [&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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aapaan-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Congratulations to Professor Sylvia Chong! - 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\/04\/03\/congratulations-to-professor-sylvia-chong\/\" \/>\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\\\/04\\\/03\\\/congratulations-to-professor-sylvia-chong\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/03\\\/congratulations-to-professor-sylvia-chong\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kiki McLaughlin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/56e4d4887754d111218b120270d4033e\"},\"headline\":\"Congratulations to Professor Sylvia Chong!\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-03T19:02:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-28T19:57:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/03\\\/congratulations-to-professor-sylvia-chong\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":251,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/03\\\/congratulations-to-professor-sylvia-chong\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/files\\\/updated-sylvia-chong-headshot-200x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"AAPAAN News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/03\\\/congratulations-to-professor-sylvia-chong\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aig.uvaalumni.org\\\/aapaan\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/03\\\/congratulations-to-professor-sylvia-chong\\\/\",\"name\":\"Congratulations to Professor Sylvia Chong! 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