Chia Youyee Vang

Dr. Chia Youyee Vang is Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She oversees the division that is responsible for advancing diversity and equity and fostering inclusion for all members of the campus community. She recently led the development and implementation of UW-Milwaukee’s Racial Justice and Equity Program that is required professional development for all employees. Her teaching and research interests include twentieth century U.S. international history, the Cold War in Asia, Asian American history, Hmong history, refugee migration and transnational and diasporic communities. She is author of four books: Prisoner of Wars: A Hmong Fighter Pilot’s Story of Escaping Death and Confronting Life (Temple University Press, 2020), Fly Until You Die: An Oral History of Hmong Pilots in the Vietnam War (Oxford University Press, 2019). Hmong America: Reconstructing Community in Diaspora (University of Illinois Press, 2010), and Hmong in Minnesota (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2008). In March 2016, the University of Minnesota Press released her co-edited volume, Claiming Place: On the Agency of Hmong Women. Dr. Vang’s research is global in scope but intimately informed by her own refugee experiences as a child. She is interested in not only understanding larger political and military transformations, but also, the lived experiences of those who experience wars not of their own making but fought in their environments. Her documentation of Southeast Asian refugee lives and that of their descendants across four continents help us to better understand the lasting impact of one of the most controversial wars of the 20^th century.

Dr. Vang has received numerous recognitions for scholarship excellence and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education: Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer (2022), Wisconsin Community Leadership Choice Award (Woman of Excellence, 2021), Office of Research/UWM Research Foundation Senior Faculty Award (2021), Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce Professional of the Year (2021), Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee Special Recognition Award-Disruptors, Changing the Power Dynamics (2021), UWM Foundation Research Excellence Award (2016), University of Wisconsin Board of Regents Diversity Award-Individual (2016), Wisconsin Women Making History (2015); and UW System Outstanding Woman of Color in Education Award (2014).

Dr. Vang completed her Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of Minnesota in 2006. She has an M.A. degree in public policy from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, and a B.A. in political science, with an emphasis on international relations, and French from Gustavus Adolphus College.