Center Director
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu is professor of History and Asian American Studies. She also is associate dean in the School of Humanities and faculty director of the Humanities Center. Her research and teaching interests focus on analyzing intersecting social hierarchies, such as those based on race, gender, sexuality, and citizenship. She is particularly interested in understanding how individuals form identities and navigate/protest social inequalities.
Her most recent book, Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress (New York University Press, 2022), is a collaboration with Mink's daughter, political scientist Gwendolyn Mink. She is currently researching the 1977 National Women's Conference, the first and only time the federal government supported a convening across 50 states and six territories to develop a national agenda on women's rights. She is also studying the life and vision of Chinese American architect Edith Yang in a project tentatively titled “A Life by Design.”
Associate Director
Laura E. Enriquez is Associate Professor of Chicano/Latino Studies. She is also Faculty-in-Residence at the UCI DREAM Center. Her research and teaching aims to identify and disrupt social inequalities while also empowering members of historically excluded groups. She is the author of the award-winning book, Of Love and Papers: How Immigration Policy Affects Romance and Family (University of California Press, 2020), in which she explores how immigration policies constrain the dating, marriage, and parenting experiences of undocumented young adults and limit intergenerational mobility within mixed-status families. She is Principal Investigator on the Undocumented Student Equity Project and the UC Collaborative to Promote Immigrant and Student Equity; both are collaborative research initiatives that examine how immigration policies disrupt the educational experiences and wellbeing of undocumented college students and students from mixed-status families. She is passionate about conducting research and working with community members and stakeholders to translate research into policies and practices that promote equity and justice.