Subscribe to our newsletter by emailProfiles of Student Success | Pauline Nguyen
Pauline Nguyen is in her fourth year at UCI studying Comparative Literature with a minor in Business Management. She also conducts research in the Department of Asian American Studies, and plans to graduate this June. We asked Pauline to share about her experience in the Libraries as a UCI student.
Read on to see what she had to say:
Which library resource(s) or service(s) did you use recently that helped you to achieve success?
The Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive Center (OC&SEAA), and the Libraries' hosted event, Viet Thanh Nguyen talk and luncheon.
What successes have you achieved from these resources and services, and how have they impacted your student experience at UCI?
In spring of 2016, I started working on my own independent research project under the Department of Asian American Studies. My project is a biographical study on the life of the first female judge of Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Ve, who is my grandmother. She serves as a big inspiration to me wanting to pursue a career in law. This project is something I am immensely passionate about, and it has furthered my interest in Asian American studies in general.
Throughout my work on the project, the OC&SEAA Center has been immensely helpful. I have met with Dr. Thuy Vo Dang, the curator for the collection, several times to help me find more resources for my project. Furthermore, my recent experience at the Libraries' hosted event for Pulitzer Prize winning author, Viet Thanh Nguyen, has truly given me insight that I will carry with me into my studies at UCI. I was able to volunteer at his talk and hear him speak about his journey and his novel and attend the VIP reception afterward. Further, I had the opportunity to attend the luncheon with Viet Thanh Nguyen that was hosted by the library and hear him speak further on pressing issues the Asian American community faces. Hearing him speak about the power of literature and how it can create empathy and understanding between people from all backgrounds was truly inspiring. These are concepts that I will carry with me as I continue with my own research project, and as someone who in the future wants to be a part of bridging those gaps in cultural understanding.
I am so grateful to the library for allowing me to have such positive and impacting experiences at UCI, and I will only continue to use its valuable resources!
UCI Libraries enjoys featuring student stories, like Pauline's. To see more stories, go here.