Taiwanese Minnesotan Friends of Macalester Geography

2023-2024 Crystal Globe Recipients

Since 2015, members of the Twin Cities Taiwanese American community have been indispensable to our Geography of Asia course. They come to our class to give guest lectures and assist with the oral history project, which helps our students better understand the complexity of Asia’s changing political economy. They also share their diverse immigration stories and help our students connect the learning of internationalism and multiculturalism, two of Macalester College’s core values. 

Ms. YuAnn Wang grew up under the repressive “white terror” regime in Taiwan and left the island for the U.S. in the 1960s. She has been a strong supporter for Taiwan’s  democratization. Her life experiences encapsulate the turmoiled past of Taiwan against the backdrop of shifting geopolitical alignments. 

Ms. Susan Liu (Hsiu-Fang Chen) also grew up under the regime and arrived in the U.S. in the 1970s. She is a well-known artist in the local Taiwanese American community. Her artwork captures Taiwanese people’s desire for democracy and Taiwanese Americans’ life experiences. Many of her paintings have been collected by the Taiwanese American Archives.  

Born in Taiwan and growing up on both sides of the Pacific, Dr. Aspen Chen is a sociologist specializing in education and immigration. He has routinely assisted with planning and executing the oral history project, and given guest lectures on issues related to Asian Americans. 

Now a dentist in Minnesota, Dr. Andrew Liu moved from Taiwan to New York City as a teenager in 1990, following his father who had been a chef in Chinese restaurants. His life experience speaks to both the lesser-known aspect of Taiwanese migration to the U.S. and the idea of Asian Americans as a model minority. 

Ms. Ai-Chin Todd first arrived in upstate New York to pursue a postgraduate degree and later settled in Minnesota to work and raise her family. She currently serves as the principal of the Twin Cities Chinese Language School, an institution dedicated to preserving traditional Chinese language and Taiwanese culture. 

Mr. Bryan Kao is an accomplished engineer who settled in the U.S. after working in several countries. His story speaks to the complex, nonlinear paths of migration that are often overlooked in mainstream narratives. 

Ms. Sophia Liu, daughter of Dr. Andrew Liu, is a middle school student from Eden Prairie and has regularly traveled between Taiwan and Minnesota since a young age. She shared with our students her privileges and struggles of being an Asian American minor in the Twin Cities area. 

These community members have maintained relationships with Macalester students even after the conclusion of our courses. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the community members supported our Asian American students and international students from Asia in navigating the anti-Asia sentiments. In addition, several of our students have received help from these community members when preparing for their Fulbright fellowship applications to Taiwan, and then again when they arrived at the island. 

This group of local Taiwanese American community members has developed a close relationship with the Macalester College Geography Department for almost a decade and significantly enriched our students’ learning of Asia. The group decided to adopt the collective name “Taiwanese Minnesotan Friends of Macalester Geography” for this award with the hope for a lasting relationship. With this award, the Macalester College Geography Department expresses gratitude to these community members for their contribution to our curriculum, celebrates the long-term relationship with the local Taiwanese American community, and looks forward to continuing our collaboration in future courses.