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 or advocacy/activism.
2023 Scholarship Recipient
Vicki Zheng (Baruch College)
Project: Ensuring Successful Transitions to College in the Asian American Community
The transition to college, especially for commuter students, is an important discussion that is undervalued in the Asian American community. Asian and Pacific Islander students make up 21.2% of CUNY’s student population (Fall 2019). The lack of awareness towards this topic may stem from a combination of the model minority myth, Asian Americans having the lowest rate of any racial/ethnic group in seeking mental health services, and cultural assimilation expectations which foster a culture of independence as opposed to reliance on community and collaboration.
Reflecting on issues affecting CUNY commuter students may face including mental health struggles due to the pandemic, with more than half having to work while in school, and other obligations that often lead to a lack of a collective space for students to connect. Also facing these issues as a Baruch College student, Vicki Zheng communicated these concerns with Apex for Youth, a nonprofit that empowers underserved New York City Asian and immigrant youth community from low-income families. Together, they launched an Apex-Baruch Discord channel where Vicki served as the moderator fostering a safe space and observed the impact of the platform that allowed students to ask questions important to their college experience such as course registration, sporting and other social events, and homework assistance. The project will continue throughout the 2023-2024 school year, with plans to expand to the City College of New York and SUNY Stonybrook student communities to replicate the success of the Baruch channel.
Application Guidelines
2023 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: Francisco Delgado, Lili Shi & Pearl Tam
Coordinator: William Tam
