Asian American Student Services

About Us

Asian American Student Services (AASS) is dedicated to empowering and uplifting the Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) student community. In partnership with campus and community organizations, we aim to:

Elevate Awareness: Through engaging programs and events, we spotlight the rich history and current issues facing AANHPI and Asian students. Our goal is to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of their diverse experiences.

Support Success: We work diligently to enhance the retention and graduation rates of AANHPI students, bolstering their overall academic and personal success by nurturing a strong sense of community and belonging on campus.

Encourage Engagement: We inspire students to engage in their educational journey actively, promoting a dynamic and interactive learning environment through collaborations with various campus and community organizations.

Promote Exploration: We provide opportunities for students to explore their social identities, develop leadership skills, and pursue professional growth, leveraging the resources and initiatives of both campus and community partnerships.

Get Involved

Join our vibrant community through Asian cultural student organizations and the AASS Academic Success Leadership Program. Connect with peers, forge meaningful relationships, and enhance your university experience through these enriching activities.

Special Graduation Recognition

Graduating students are eligible to receive a distinctive stole and are cordially invited to the Center for Identity & Inclusion’s graduation and award ceremony. Active members of Asian cultural clubs should check with club officers to learn how they can earn a special Asian cultural club cord.

Contact Us

Soyon Bueno

Program Director, Asian American Student Services
Pronouns: she/her/hers
soyon.bueno@ucdenver.edu

Soyon Bueno serves as the Director of Asian American Student Services at the University of Colorado Denver. She has over 20 years of experience in higher education specializing in recruitment, retention, advising, diversity training, and student support services. She enjoys her role in helping students get engaged on campus and providing cultural programming that raises awareness about the diversity and richness of Asian American Pacific Islander experience and history. Throughout Soyon's professional career, she has been an equity champion, examining processes and policies that can uplift or hinder student success. She is an immigrant from South Korea but grew up in a predominantly Latinx community. She is proud to be a Denver Public School graduate from North High School and attended Colorado College for her undergraduate degree and Colorado State University for her master's degree.

Programs

This is a cohort program for AANHPI undergraduate students. ASLP participants engage in activities, workshops, and mentorship to boost academic performance, workplace readiness, and ethnic identity confidence for Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders and all students of Asian descent, including adoptees and mixed heritage students.

Student Groups

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is an organization that seeks to provide a spiritual community for students on Auraria Campus. We wish to create the space for students to explore the Christian faith and to experience community comprised of people from different cultural, racial, spiritual, and economic backgrounds. We meet in two different fellowships: IV Auraria and AAIV (Asian American InterVarsity). Our meeting structures consist of weekly small groups, occasional events such as the Boba Social, retreats, conferences, and community hangout times.

CASL provides services to support Asian student leaders and underrepresented students. CASL wants to promote a diverse and inclusive campus for all students. Also, CASL wants to recognize leaders in offering activities, guest speakers, student panels, and workshops to the campus community to enrich cultural awareness. CASL value to partner with other units on campus that provide services for student success and connect with students.

ISA is a nonprofit and nonpolitical organization. It is affiliated to all the associated students of the University of Colorado Denver. The purpose of ISA is to promote and increase awareness of South Asian heritage and culture through education community involvement and providing a forum for social networking. Over the past few years, ISA has become one of the active student organizations conducting festive events such as Diwali and Holi every year. ISA works towards promoting and creating awareness of the culture and traditional values.

The purpose of ASA is students from different cultural backgrounds have more opportunities to make community-based differences by cooperating and collaborating together. However, sometimes they may find difficulties working with others because of misunderstandings based upon cultural differences. ASA believes that in order to achieve cultural awareness, there needs to be exposed to different cultural backgrounds.

Furthermore, ASA would like to unite the community under one roof and cultural barriers that have kept us from understanding and accepting each other. It will provide opportunities for Asian students as well as Non-Asian students to learn about new and different cultures worldwide and how that plays a role in everyday life. Therefore, we believe that these opportunities will be a great milestone for people to broaden their social networks and become more open-minded

CU Denver Dragon Boat Team is organized, planned and led primarily by current students from the University of Colorado Denver campus. CU Denver was the first university team to compete in the local Colorado Dragon Boat Festival. CU Denver prides itself in the rich diversity of our campus with over 35% of the student body from culturally diverse backgrounds. We are proud to represent the University of Colorado Denver located in the heart of downtown Denver with strong academic programs and support services to help students succeed.

The general purpose of the Korean Student Association is to raise awareness of Korean culture, Korean language, and Korean music but may also include other topics that pertain to Korea. Korean Student Association will allow all students to engage and interact with others who have a similar interest in Korean culture or heritage. Korean Student Association will allow students to engage with Korean related content and material that will enrich their education and cultural diversity as students.

The purpose of the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) is to create a sense of community for students pursuing the sciences and engineering fields. Our club specializes, but isn't limited to, the Asian American community and creating a sense of community within those students.

In addition, SASE promotes students to grow their professional development and helps navigate their career and education paths.

Resources

AAPI Racial Justice Toolkit

Addressing Anti-Blackness Within the Vietnamese/Chinese & Asian Community

Advancing Justice Report

Anti-Racism and Mental Health Resources

Asian Girls Ignite is on a mission to build a strong community of Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) girls and women by celebrating their individual and collective power through shared stories.

Colorado Asian Pacific United (CAPU) is a coalition of Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders, creatives, and allies in Denver. CAPU strives to enhance and rich the Asian American and Pacific Islander experiences in Colorado.

SEARAC is a national civil rights organization that empowers Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese American communities to create a socially just and equitable society. They are currently focused on policies regarding education, immigration and health and aging.

For more information regarding mental health issues, you can find information and services on organizations like the Asian Mental Health Collective. For a list of Asian and NHPI therapists, visit the directory list.

Asian individuals represent the largest racial group of STEM professionals, however, a recent study on the San Francisco Bay Area’s tech sector found that they were the least likely to become managers and executives. Additionally, another study reveals that Asians encounter the same forms of bias experienced by other people of color. This statistic is revealing: the majority of diversity initiatives in STEM address the challenges faced by underrepresented minorities (URMs) — Black and Latinx people — but exclude Asian people. Click Anti-Racism and Mental Health Resources to learn more.

Colorado AAPI Anti-Hate Community Resources

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

Minari– A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of their own American dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
The Farewell– Billi's family returns to China under the guise of a fake wedding to stealthily say goodbye to their beloved matriarch – the only person that does not know she only has a few weeks to live.
The Half of It– Friendless student Ellie Chu lives in the remote town of Squahamish, where she makes extra money writing homework papers for her fellow students. She lives with her widowed father and performs most of his duties as station master and signalman.
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Michelle Yeoh stars in this spellbinding, sci-fi epic about a woman who tries to do her taxes but becomes sucked into a multiverse war. Without spoiling too much, the movie explores themes of family, mother-daughter relationships, and has a lot of cool fight scenes.
Turning Red – It may be a Disney movie about kids, but adults will love Turning Red for its story about growing up and finding yourself. One day, Canadian teenager (and boy band obsessed) Mei discovers she has a family curse where she turns into a red panda with any strong emotion.
Always Be My Maybe– Ali Wong and Randall Park star in this romantic comedy about two childhood friends who never seem quite ready to be together. It's a sweet movie about old friends and oh, Keanu Reeves.

BTS – Also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a seven-member South Korean boy band that began formation in 2010. With the rise in popularity of Korean music, BTS has hit the stage internationally and has amassed fans worldwide. Check out their songs, “Dynamite” and “Life Goes On” from their most recent album.
Jai Wolf – Sajeeb Saha, known professionally as Jai Wolf, is a Bengali New York-based electronic music producer. He is best known for his singles, "Indian Summer", "Like It's Over", and "Starlight".
NIKI – NIKI is an Indonesian singer, songwriter and record producer. She is currently based in the United States and signed with the record label 88rising. She was signed onto her label after her huge success on YouTube. Her newest album Moonchild features songs such as “Switchblade”, “Selene” and “Pandemonium”.
keshi - keshi (Casey Luong) was born in Houston, Texas to Vietnamese parents. Prior to making music his full-time career, he was a full-time nurse. He is now known for his distant falsetto vocals and textural instruments. Check out his songs, “2 soon”, “like i need you”, and “always”.
Rina Sawayama – Rina is a Japanese-British singer-songwriter and model based in London. Her newest album Sawayama gained a lot of buzz this past year. The album was an exploration of identity, family, gender and sexuality, set to a backdrop of future-facing, genre-splicing pop music as she lyrically explores personal experiences from both her childhood and adulthood.
Little Dragon – Little Dragon, Swedish pop band, will make you want to get up and dance with their infectious grooves.
Black Pink – Blackpink is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa.
Raveena – Inspired by her Indian heritage and dedication to spiritual practices, singer Raveena channels her heritage on queer focused music.
TOKiMONSTA – Electronic artist TOKiMONSTA is a collaborator with Anderson.Paak, ZHU, Isaiah Rashad and more. Overcoming two brain surgeries for Moyamoya disease in 2015, the artist had to relearn language and her music skills to continue to produce and play shows today.

Asian Boss Girl

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Alert: The Plaza Building will remain closed through Jan. 1, 2025.

Faculty and staff may retrieve items and use copy machines in preparation for finals week with Campus ID badges through the door on the Southwest side across from King Center. Additionally, the Auraria Health Center (link: https://healthcenter1.com) is continuing to operate at a reduced capacity.

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Center for Identity & Inclusion | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion