Briefly explain what your Staff Organization does or its mission:
The mission of HAUPIAA is to educate the Cal Athletics community about the range of cultural diversity within the AAPI family and to celebrate AAPI accomplishments and culture with Cal student-athletes and staff.
How does your Staff Organization benefit UC Berkeley staff?
Our staff organization benefits UC Berkeley staff by providing a group in which Cal Athletics AAPI staff, for the first time, can gather with colleagues from similar communities to discuss matters important to us and to create events in which other AAPI staff and AAPI student-athletes can participate..
How can UC Berkeley staff get involved with your Staff Organization?
UC Berkeley staff can email me, Dean Caparaz, at dcaparaz@berkeley.edu or email our de facto leader Debbie Schram at dschram@berkeley.edu to get involved with HAUPIAA.
In what kinds of events and/or outreach does your Staff Organization engage in?
HAUPIAA has hosted events such as a Lunar New Year celebration that included a lion dance by the Vietnamese Student Association, a Zoom panel during AAPI Heritage Month that included members of the AAPI community discussing the film "Vincent Who?" about the killing of a Chinese-American auto worker, and an event called "Boba and Bao" in which we provide boba tea and steamed buns (and other AAPI treats) to our Cal Athletics colleagues.
What’s the best part of being in this Staff Organization?
The best part of being in this staff organization is that it regularly puts me in the company of other AAPI staff. Before joining HAUPIAA, I didn't interact much with other AAPI staff in Cal Athletics because we're spread out in various units, though having written that, my unit, Athletics Communications, has hired two other AAPI employees since HAUPIAA was founded.
Name one thing you learned by being part of this Staff Organization?
One thing I learned by being part of this staff organization is that my AAPI colleagues in Cal Athletics are committed to working hard and putting in the time, on a volunteer basis, to make our events and even our meetings successful.
What are your Staff Organization's current and future goals?
Our goals included putting together an in-person panel involving Cal Athletics alumni discussing how going to Cal helped them to succeed in their careers—in sports or elsewhere—after graduation. This panel was scheduled for May 31 to cap AAPI Heritage Month. Another goal was to write a feature (I'll write it) about a charity co-founded by Cal women's tennis alumna and current pro player Maegan Manasse (who's half Filipino) to post on CalBears.com during AAPI Heritage Month in May. Our future goals include creating roles such as president, communications officer, treasurer, etc., for HAUPIAA and creating a webpage on CalBears.com along with continuing to provide celebratory and educational content during AAPI Heritage Month and throughout the academic year.
