Join us for a conversation between Dr Oiyan Poon, author of the recent book “Asian American is Not a Color, and local author Deepa Iyer!

Dr. OiYan Poon is a Co-Director of the College Admissions Futures Co-Laborative. Her research focuses on the racial politics of Asian Americans, education access, affirmative action, and admissions systems and practices. In Rethinking College Admissions: Research-Based Practice and Policy (Harvard Education Press, 2022), she and her co-editor, Dr. Mike Bastedo, and colleagues examine and offer new ideas to transform the unequal structures and systemic norms of college-going in the U.S. In April 2024, Beacon Books published her book, Asian American is Not a Color: Conversations about Race, Affirmative Action, and Family. In it, she explores how Asian Americans are shaping the future of race relations through debates over education policies like affirmative action, using personal narrative and interviews of Asian Americans across the country. An award-winning scholar, Dr. Poon’s commentary and research have been featured in media outlets such as the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and NPR including on Code Switch, All Things Considered, Marketplace, and Weekend Edition.

After earning her Bachelor’s degree at Boston College and M.Ed. in College Student Affairs Administration at the University of Georgia, OiYan worked in multicultural student affairs, as the first Asian Pacific American Student Affairs director at George Mason University and the first Student Affairs Officer in Asian American Studies at UC Davis. She earned her Ph.D. in Race & Ethnic Studies in Education and Graduate Certificate in Asian American Studies at UCLA.

Born and raised in Massachusetts to immigrants from Hong Kong, OiYan now lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter. In her free time, she enjoys baking, binge watching trashy reality tv, listening to NPR, and spending time by the lake and local coffee shops.