e l o c m e

wAs UC San Diego’s inaugural Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American (APIMEDA) Associate Director and a UC San Diego alumna, I am proud to welcome you to our community. One of my favorite times of the year is when we get to welcome new people to our campus and introduce them to our communities.

When the members of the Coalition for Critical Asian American Studies (CCAAS) conceived of this Lifebook in 2014, they wanted the diversity of APIMEDA students at UC San Diego to see themselves being successful on this campus, and for new members of our community to find ways to connect to those of us who have been here for a while. This Lifebook is intended to provide you with the information that will help you to navigate the campus academically and socially. Continuing APIMEDA students have told us what things have been most useful to them and what things they wish they knew and started to utilize sooner, and we did our best to put as much of that in this book as we could. We also asked APIMEDA staff and faculty to be amongst those resources.

We hope that you take the time to visit each of the campus resources listed and to attend student organization meetings to help you find your place on campus.

In addition, I hope that you visit APIMEDA Programs and Services. We are a young office that has continued to conceive of new ways to connect and grow. We hope you will join our communities.

But most importantly, we want you to know that there is a community full of people at UC San Diego who wants to help you to succeed. Please get to know us, ask us when you need help, and stop by just because you can. I look forward to meeting you soon.

Sincerely,

Windi Sasaki

UC San Diego Class of 2000 APIMEDA Associate Director she/her/hers, they/them/theirs