Glenn Omatsu
Glenn Omatsu is a Lecturer in Asian American Studies and the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and also teaches classes at Pasadena City College and UCLA. At CSUN, he teaches EOP freshmen who are the first in their low-income families to attend college and who have high academic potential despite doing poorly in high school. At CSUN, he also serves as coordinator of the Faculty Mentor Program. At UCLA, he teaches service-learning classes focusing on Asian American social movements and Asian immigrant labor struggles. He is co-editor (with Steve Louie) of Asian Americans: The Movement and Moment and co-editor (with Edith Chen) of Teaching about Asian Pacific Americans: Effective Strategies, Activities, and Assignments for Classrooms and Communities. He also has written articles on Freedom Schooling, liberatory pedagogy, anti-colonial mentoring, immigrant labor campaigns, and other social movements for justice.
The award committee annually considers candidates who are administrators in the K-12 public school system or instructors in higher education. George Kiriyama’s areas of educational leadership included the areas of multicultural diversity and curriculum development, training teachers and administrators in the Japanese American experience and mentoring for leadership roles in education.
The committee, retired LAUSD administrator Kiyo Fukumoto, and Iku Kiriyama, retired LAUSD educator and widow of George Kiriyama, selected Omatsu as he especially stood out as a longtime mentor of students in higher education. Among his students at UCLA and CSUN, Omatsu has been admired and respected for encouraging and guiding his students to always look forward to the possibilities they can accomplish. It was for his mentorship that he was recognized by the Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California in 1993 as a Community Heritage Award honoree.
Hitting close to home, it was Omatsu who challenged George and Iku’s daughter, Traci, to work towards establishing Asian American Studies at CSU Fullerton, a program that Traci envied at UCLA. Because of his encouragement, Traci helped to lead the effort to establish Asian American Studies as a minor at CSUF, which subsequently became available as a major. “I definitely consider him one of my mentors in encouraging me and others to work with students and faculty at CSUF to get Asian American Studies off the ground at school,” stated Traci. “He was a part of the reason that I didn't just keep hanging around at UCLA every week. I'm just a tiny example of the many Asian American and JA students that he's inspired and mentored to continue not just as activists and organizers, but as educators.”
Glenn Omatsu will be honored at ceremonies on Saturday, April 2, 12 noon, at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Little Tokyo. |
