Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
UC Alumni Association Celebrates Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
The University of Cincinnati has a long history of outstanding achievements by its Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific-American alumni. These graduates include pioneers in many fields, from the inventor of the Pentium chip to a world-renowned sculptor and a groundbreaking coroner who helped develop a cutting-edge crime lab.
In recognition of these achievements, the UC Alumni Association celebrates Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. This is a time to honor the generations of Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific-American Bearcats who have made UC proud, and to look forward to the future success of our diverse alumni community.
Snapshots of Asian/Pacific American UC Excellence
Jenn Dye, JD, PhD, Law ’09, A&S ’09, ’15 was named as the assistant dean of Inclusive Excellence and Belonging at the UC College of Law.
Jagdish Bhati, CEAS ’89 founded Serene Suites Premier Memory Care on the belief that people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s deserve to feel safe, looked after, and understood at all times.
Sherry Liao, PhD, CEAS ’05 is the program manager of the Joint Co-op Institute which provides UC students the opportunity to integrate academics with hands-on work experiences through five semesters of cooperative education, primarily in China.
Chaowen Ting, CCM ’11 won second prize at the Felix Mendelssohn Conducting Competition which draws talent from all over the world, and past awardees hold posts at major symphonies and operas in Europe, America and Asia.
General Robert Charvat, CEAS ’10, ’12 is the Chief Technical Officer for Clean Earth Rovers, a UC Venture Lab-backed startup that has created a rover to clean coastal waterways, skimming across the surface of the water.
Silvi Shah, MD, Med ’18 is an assistant professor in the Division of Nephrology at UC and the lead author of the UC study comparing pregnancy rates in patients undergoing two types of dialysis.
Marvin Abrinica, A&S ’98, Bus ’02, is CEO of Wunderfund, which supports small businesses and startups looking to raise capital; and co-founder of Esoteric Brewing Co., one of Cincinnati’s first minority-owned breweries.
Thiyagarajan Upaassana, PhD, CEAS ’22, is the founder and director of Perceive Now, Inc., a nationally recognized, AI-driven startup that helps businesses’ decision-making on mergers and acquisitions, academic research and development, funding trends, and thriving in a competitive landscape.
Tony DelaRosa, A&S ’12, is CEO and founder of Tony Rosa Speaks LLC, and author of the book, “Teaching the Invisible Race: Embodying a Pro-Asian American Lens in Schools.” He recently won the, "Community Trailblazer Award for AAPI Unsung Heroes," from The Asian American Foundation and will be featured on the Hulu Series: TAAF Heritage Heroes (May 2023).
Yogini (Kanthi) Biswas, CEAS ’02, is VP of Marketing and Chief Brand Officer for Brighthouse Financial, one of the largest providers annuities and life insurance in the U.S.
Nine years after being named UC’s Homecoming Queen in 2002, Cindy Chiang-Halvorsen, CEAS ’04, and her future husband won Season 19 of The Amazing Race, using the $1 million top prize to start an education-based charity.
A member of the UC Foundation’s Board of Trustees, Lourdes Harshe, BUS ’92, is a Tax Managing Director with Deloitte Tax’s Global Employer Services where she helps lead the firm’s workforce transformation efforts.
UC assistant professor of nursing, transcultural nurse implementation scientist and curator of Asian American storytelling Minjin Kim, PhD seeks to lift Asian voices to help defeat discrimination.
Bhavik Modi, BUS ’15, is co-founder and CEO of Chicago’s Azadi Brewing Company, an innovative Indian-centric brewery that affiliates its products with Indian cuisine.
Elected mayor of Cincinnati in 2021, Aftab Pureval, LAW ’08, is the first Asian American mayor of a major Midwestern U.S. city. (Photo credit: John Minchillo/AP)
Hamilton County coroner, certified neuroradiologist and entrepreneur Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, MD, MED ’88, helped create one of the country’s most technologically advanced crime labs.
The only person to have performed standup comedy on all seven continents, Rajiv Satyal, CEAS ’00, has built a multifaceted career as a comedian, podcast host, blogger and speaker.
The work of renowned sculptor Norikazu “Tom” Tsuchiya, A&S ’95, has immortalized a wide variety of figures, notably athletes, in displays ranging from universities and churches to ballparks and the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The youngest-ever prizewinner in the Tchaikovsky International Competition, world-renowned violinist Alyssa Park, CCM ’96, is Concertmaster of the New West Symphony and member of the Lyris Quartet.
A widely recognized IT visionary and expert in mobile telelphony and wireless broadband access, Leo Chan, BUS ’01, is Executive Director of the Midwest USA Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
Vinod Dham, CEAS ’77, developed the original Pentium processor at Intel, unleashing a revolution in the computing field and the way the world operates. He became known in his industry as the “Father of the Pentium.”
Nominate a Bearcat
Nominate a Bearcat alumnus for a future heritage or awareness month alumni spotlight.
Make a Gift
Make a gift to the Asian Studies Discretionary Fund to support the students and programs of the College of Arts and Sciences' Asian Studies department.
Maurice Stewart, A&S '16
Director, Alumni Engagement, Inclusive Excellence