A sense of belonging for students of marginalized backgrounds can come from a variety of sources throughout our campus such as representation within faculty, within a student’s major or program, workplace, or in the general student body.
For Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander identifying students, UConn’s chapter of Ascend, which is a part of North America’s largest non-profit for Pan-Asian business professionals, provides a home away from home. Community, representation within the School of Business, and culturally competent career development for its members are some of the pieces of what makes up this organization.
Ascend, UConn’s Vice President of Marketing, Lauren Deleon, shared insights about this organization with us and the value it adds to our campus community.
“Ascend is important to the business community on campus for a variety of reasons. First, there are stereotypes about Asians in business. AAPI professionals seem well-represented, we are highly employed and high-earners, but bias towards our community makes us less likely to hold leadership positions. We are seen as a “model minority”, but there are very few Asian leaders in the C-Suite. Only 2% of C-Level roles are held by AAPI people. There are stereotypes about us not having the leadership skills to stand out. Ascend is needed on campus to give Asian and Asian-American identifying students a voice and empower them.”
Lauren also shared unique attributes about Ascend as an organization on our campus, as they “offer representation to students that look like them and have similar backgrounds. We represent Pan-Asian, East Asian, South East Asian, South Asian people, and everyone in between. That is important because not all clubs have that scope. We have a diverse group of members that represent different backgrounds.
Ascend has provided me with career development opportunities and also a community with like-minded people here at UConn. It provided me the ability to practice leadership skills as a member of the E-Board as first the Vice President of Internal Affairs, and then after, the Vice President of Marketing. It also provided me with great career development opportunities. Since this is a national organization, it provided me with chances to connect with other Ascend chapters at different colleges and also attend career fairs and attend networking and speaker events.”
Thank you Lauren for sharing insights and your own experience with Ascend, UConn!
Follow them on Instagram at @ascenduconn to stay updated about this group.
