Founded to aid a largely newcomer bachelor society, family associations now provide socialization and support as their members move beyond Chinatown. Their significance has been eclipsed by government assistance programs and family reunifications.
Promote a stronger sense of Chinese American community identity through education, arts, and business. Foster cross-cultural understanding and inspire a spirit of service.
Purdue University Undergraduate Chinese Association (UCA)
Founded by a group of undergraduate Chinese students in 2005, UCA is a nonpolitical and nonprofit student organization. It aims to promote Chinese cultural heritage and understanding among students and the community. It also serves as a platform for domestic Chinese students to connect with each other.
Shirley Ma is a founding member of UCA and currently leads the Memberships and Donors Services Committee at the Executive Team. She is a nurse educator and passionate about community volunteering. She has successfully managed national and local programs, including UCA’s youth mental health program WAVES and the China American Convention.
While some members of Congress have called for universities to shut down their CIs, these calls often reference vague connections between CIs and Chinese espionage operations. Instead, policymakers should focus on addressing the issues that underlie these concerns by increasing transparency around these relationships. They should also consider limiting the types of federal funding that are granted to universities that maintain a relationship with a Chinese university on DoD’s threat matrix.
Purdue University Chinese Students Association (PUCSA)
In addition to the social aspect of PUCSA, it promotes Chinese cultural heritage, understanding and multicultural exchange. It also provides a platform for Chinese students to communicate and connect with each other and non-Chinese students at Purdue.
The group is also active in promoting services, education and Purdue pride among its members. It is a nonprofit student organization and has been in operation since 1924.
A recent case highlighted the alleged mistreatment of Chinese students at Purdue. In November, ProPublica reported on the aggression that student Kong was subjected to after he posted a message of support for the Tiananmen Square protests on an online discussion forum.
During this time, several PUCSA members were arrested for participating in the protests. Despite this, the PUCSA remains a strong community that continues to thrive on campus. The group’s members are highly educated and accomplished. They have a diverse range of professional experience and contribute to the community in many ways.
Purdue University Chinese Alumni Association (CUCAA)
The CCAC seeks to promote Chinese culture, both traditional and modern. It offers students the chance to explore the culture, participate in Chinese language competitions and compete for a spot at the Midwest regional Chinese speech contest. Students in the Chinese language program also have the opportunity to volunteer, tutoring fellow Boilermakers or international students.
The club was founded in 1909 with only six members in the first group, according to the 1925 publication The Chinese Students at Purdue. The club later held annual conferences to bring together its members.
A notable alumni of the club was Deng Jiaxian, who received his Ph.D. in physics from Purdue in 1950 and went on to work with a team of scientists that developed nuclear and hydrogen bombs for China. His efforts were critical to China’s military success during the Cold War. He is often referred to as “China’s father of the atomic bomb.” (Source: The Chinese Students’ Alliance, The Purdue Exponent, September 10, 1921.) Photo courtesy of the Purdue University Archives and Special Collections.
Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST)
The Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST) is a non-profit professional organization founded in 1992. It has over 167 national branches and hundreds of local chapters across the country. Its mission is to promote the transformation of academic achievements into industrial projects, exploring different modes of technological innovation and capital financing, and building a platform to promote Sino-US academic, science and technology exchanges.
CAST is committed to promoting the development of science and technology in China, reflecting the suggestions, opinions and demands of scientific and technical workers, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of scientists and technical workers, and building a family of scientific and technological professionals.
Porter Wright partner Sunny Yang is a founding member of the CAST-P and has served as its executive committee chairwoman since 2016. She will work to ensure that the organization stays focused on its mission of helping members connect with one another, build community, exchange ideas and knowledge in their field and advance their careers in Pittsburgh and throughout the United States.