APIDA Faculty and Staff Alliance

Directory
Photos
Contact Us

Welcome Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Faculty and Staff

The APIDA Faculty and Staff Alliance is the one of eight identity-based Affinity Groups (African American Affairs Council, Alumni, Latino/a Faculty and Staff Association, LGBTQ, Native Nations Council, Veterans, and Womyn of Color Collective) at MSU Denver. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion supports these groups in promoting and providing a sense of belonging and community for employees.

Originally created as the Asian/Pacific Islander Faculty and Staff Alliance in Spring 2019, the group’s name was changed to the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Faculty and Staff Alliance in Fall 2020 to be intentional and honor the uniqueness of our communities. APIDA is a more inclusive pan-ethnic term to describe the diversity within Asian and Pacific Islander populations.

We provide…

A space for APIDA faculty and staff to connect with a group of like-minded peers.
A place to build community with people from similar cultural backgrounds and families.
Events and networking opportunities.
An avenue to share our unique perspectives and stories.

Join our Teams Channel Join our Directory

What is an Affinity Group?

Affinity Groups are voluntary associations of people who have common interests. Affinity Groups play a vital role in articulating, promoting and supporting the needs and goals of their various communities and organizations. Their primary focus is to develop and improve the campus climate by increasing the presence of diverse faculty and staff. The groups can assist the organization with the recruitment, retention, and promotion of top diverse talent. In addition, they can help increase morale, provide insights into diverse areas, build bridges to the community and empower members.

Learn more about how MSU Denver's Office of Diversity and Inclusion supports our Affinity Groups

MSU Denver Employee Affinity Groups More about the APIDA Alliance

Our Leaders and Members

Note: Not all members elected to be represented on our site

Courtney Matsumoto, M.A. (she/her)

Founder/APIDA Alliance Board Member

College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Data Analyst, Marketing and Communications Senior Manager

[email protected] 303-615-0822

Amy Watanabe (she/her)

APIDA Alliance Board Member

Associate Head Coach, Women's Volleyball

[email protected] 303-615-0582

Nora Bashir

Community Engaged Learning Program Manager, Classroom to Career Hub

[email protected]

Donald Chang (he/him)

Professor, Marketing

[email protected]

Kaycee Gerhart (she/her)

Filipina, White

Vice President, Government and External Affairs

[email protected]

Mingli He (he/him)

Chinese American

Professor, Mechanical Engineering Techology

[email protected] 303-615-0549

Di Jia

Criminal Justice and Criminology

[email protected]

Shireen Khan (she/her)

Technical Project Manager, Application Services

Yongxia Kuang

Chinese

Math

[email protected]

Kishore Kulkarni

Distinguished Professor of Economics, Economics

[email protected]

Juhee Kumar (she/they)

Indian (south asian)

Industry Navigator - Financial Services and Business Operations, C2Hub

Kristen Narona (she/her)

Filipina

Scholar Advisor, TRIO Student Support Services

[email protected] 303-605-2069

Huong Nguyen

Vietnamese

University Advancement

[email protected]

Christine Sheikh (she/her)

Pakistani American

Specialist, Student Academic Services

[email protected] 303-615-1919

Ted Shin (he/him)

Korean American

Professor, Industrial Design

[email protected]

Andrew Sia (he/him)

Filipino & Chinese American

Staff Psychologist, Counseling Center

[email protected] 303-615-9988

Bleu Vargas (they/she/siya)

Pilipinx/Filipino

Assistant Director, LGBTQ Student Resource Center

[email protected] 303-605-7921

Kathryn Williams (she/her)

Instructional Accessibility Specialist, CTLD

Runing Zhang

Engineering and Engineering Technology

[email protected]