The Thomas Tam Scholarship is funded by an endowment established by the City University of New York in recognition of Dr. Thomas Tam’s contributions as a former member of the CUNY Board of Trustees, founding Executive Director of the Asian American / Asian Research Institute, and leadership in the Asian American community. The Scholarship awards $1,000 to an individual qualified undergraduate student that is currently enrolled at any of the twenty-one colleges within CUNY, Asian or non-Asian, who has demonstrated creativity in the communication of the concerns of the Asian American community in areas such as health, education, culture, media and advocacy.
2020 Recipient
Gina Gao (NYC College of Technology)
Project: Chinese Culture Virtual Project
Ms. Gina Gao, a Hospitality Management major, was an intern and employee at Turnstile Tours, hosting tours and virtual programs across New York City. Gina assisted Turnstile with better understanding Chinese culture, improving its tour experiences to visiting Chinese academic and government delegations, and connecting the company with Chinese-speaking tour operators and street vendors. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Gina designed and led an hour-long virtual program about the people and culture of her hometown in Wuhan, China, which was being portrayed negatively at the time in the news. Afterwards, she created a monthly virtual program series aimed at educating the public about Chinese culture and history through the stories of traditional herbs and plants.
Before arriving to the United States in 2012, Gina obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management from Hubei University in China, and worked for seven years as a tour guide and itinerary planner. A single mother of two, she has worked many different jobs. In 2017, she co-founded the successful Beach 80th Street Flea Market in Rockaway Beach. Due to the downturn of the tourism industry in 2020, Gina shifted careers and became a New York City police officer in order to serve the community.
2020 Honorable Mentions
Bingfang Chen (NYC College of Technology)
Project: Mindcontrol
Yejin Lee (LaGuardia Community College)
Project: Fighting Stigma, Xenophobia, and Hate Crime
Application Guidelines
2020 Scholarship Application Form (Download)
All currently enrolled CUNY undergraduate students are eligible to apply for the Thomas Tam Scholarship.
Display of communication of the concerns of the Asian American community can be in the form of written reports, film, video, new media techniques, and the development of performances or materials in the arts and sciences.
The following are the issues to be addressed in your application for the Tam Scholarship. Please be sure to cover all of the points in your application.
- Please describe your project in detail, be sure to tell us about the issue of concern to the Asian American community that the project is designed to address.
- Please explain how your project demonstrates creativity in communicating the concerns of Asian Americans in areas such as health, education, culture, media and advocacy.
- What are the objectives or goals of the project, i.e. what do you want to accomplish, or what impact or effect will it have? How will you know that it has been successful?
- How was the project implemented, or if in progress or a future project, please describe how it will be implemented?
- Is the project completed, is it in progress or is it a future project? (Note: Uncompleted/future projects will only receive partial scholarship award until they are completed.)
Scholarship Committee: Russell Leong, Joyce Moy & Pearl Tam
Coordinator: William Tam
