Quyen Di Chuc Bui, a lecturer who heads the Vietnamese language program in the UCLA Asian Languages and Cultures Department, has been selected receive the 2016 Asian Heritage Award for Innovation by the Asian Heritage Society, which recognizes the achievements of Asian Americans living in California and their contributions to their communities. He will receive the award on April 23 at the Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego.
In addition to teaching Vietnamese language, literature and culture at UCLA, Chuc Bui teaches a summer abroad extension course for California State University Long Beach and is the author of a series of textbooks for Vietnamese-American students. He also teaches a nine-week course and a summer weekend workshop to prepare immigrant volunteers to teach Vietnamese in their local communities.
“What I most enjoy about teaching is seeing Vietnamese American students gain the ability to read and write Vietnamese fluently," said Chuc Bui, who left Vietnam with his family after the fall of Saigon in 1975, fleeing by boat and eventually emigrating to America and settling in California.
This story was adapted from the original published by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
