Local Hero: Dr. Thuy Vo Dang

Nominee Name: Dr. Thuy Vo Dang
Title: Assistant Professor of Information Studies and Asian American Studies, UCLA; Board Member of the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association and Arts Orange County; coauthor of A People's Guide to Orange County and Vietnamese in Orange County

About Dr. Thuy Vo Dang

Thuy Vo Dang (she/her/hers) is Assistant Professor of Information Studies at UCLA where she co-directs the Community Archives Lab. She holds a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from University of California, San Diego and a B.A. in English and Asian American Studies from Scripps College. Her previous role was Curator for the UCI Libraries Southeast Asian Archive and Research Librarian for Asian American Studies. With research and teaching expertise in Southeast Asian diaspora, ethnic studies, oral history, and community archives, Thuy brings an interdisciplinary approach to co-creating digital humanities and archival documentation projects with educators and community-based organizations.

Her current research and community engagement work centers "refugee archival praxis" through the storytelling strategies of first and second generation Vietnamese in the diaspora. She is coauthor of the books A People’s Guide to Orange County (2022) and Vietnamese in Orange County (2015) and has published in Amerasia Journal, AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community, Health Promotion Practice, History Now: the Journal, Ethnic Studies in Academic and Research Libraries, and Toward a Framework for Vietnamese American Studies. Thuy serves on the board of directors for Arts Orange County and the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association.