JEAN CHEN
Co-Director
Third year (class of 2010)
chenjean@usc.edu

Jean Chen is from Irvine, California. She is a third-year majoring in Biological Sciences, minoring in Political Science with an emphasis in Law and Public Policy, and dabbling in music composition-related classes. She began her involvement with the Asian American community as a participant of the CIRCLE program and a board member of USC Nikkei Association and Taiwanese American Organization. She sincerely hopes that conference participants will not only have a great time, but walk away with increased knowledge about the intriguing intricacies of Taiwanese American (and Taiwanese) identity! When not busy with ITASA and schoolwork, she follows the Japanese entertainment scene; feel free to approach her and gossip about Japanese celebrities or spazz over the latest J-drama.

VICTOR LEE
Co-Director
Fourth year (class of 2009)
victorle@usc.edu

Victor Lee is currently a senior majoring in History and Cinema-Television Production. Outside of the classroom, he has served as USC Nikkei Association's inaugural Culture Night Chair and is currently its Publicity Chair. He is also a member of USC Kazan Taiko and Phi Alpha Theta. Born in Taiwan but raised in Fremont, CA, he is excited about serving as an ITASA Conference Co-Chair and wants to learn as much as possible about the Taiwanese American experience! He hopes that the Conference will be a rewarding experience for all involved. Come talk to him about movies!

LINA CHEN
Fundraising Co-Chair
Third year (class of 2010)
linachen@usc.edu

Lina Chen is a junior majoring in Business Administration and East Asian Language & Culture at USC. She was born in Taipei and came to Southern California in 1997. She loves to travel, and every summer, Lina and her family goes back to Taiwan. She enjoys shopping at the Taipei MRT station by Mitsukoshi, and she loves eating Taiwanese snacks, especially oyster egg pancake, at night markets. She wants people to experience the rich Taiwanese culture, and she would like to help USC host a successful ITASA event that will create greater understanding and knowledge of everything that Taiwan has to offer.

CHRISTINE SU
Fundraising Co-Chair
Third year (class of 2010)
suc@usc.edu

Christine Su grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, and went to a Chinese school until age 14. She then went to University High School in Irvine, California, and worked on improving her English so much that now (sadly) she has an American accent when speaking Mandarin. Currently a junior majoring in business at USC, Christine is an active member in TAO, directed the Culture Show for the Chinese American Student Association (CASA) last year, and competed for the USC Equestrian Team her freshmen year. She hopes that with her strong sense of connection to Taiwan, she will be able to help plan a conference that will rekindle people's roots to Taiwan and sharpen their views on Taiwanese American identity.

HENRY CHANG
Social Co-Chair
Third year (class of 2011)
yuanyuch@usc.edu

Henry Chang is a junior majoring in architecture. He was born in Taiwan but studied in international schools for half of his educational career. He learned more about Taiwanese Americans later at a bilingual high school in Taiwan and has since been increasingly able to identify with their unique culture. He was on the TAO staff board, which paved his way to joining the USC ITASA crew. Henry enjoys the natural beauty and local scenes of Taiwan and hopes to bike around the island one day!

ANNE CHEN
Social Co-Chair
Third year (class of 2010)
chenanne@usc.edu

Anne Chen is a Business Administration major who transferred from UCSD to USC this school year, and was Social Co-Chair on UCSD's TASA last year (really excited to see her UCSD TASA people come up to the conference! She misses old cabinet, aka last year's officers, very very much). Born and raised in the U.S., she grew up in Arcadia, but has travelled to Taiwan almost every summer of her life. She is also a member of USC JSA, and loves anything and everything Japanese, to the point where her plan is to work/live in Japan after she graduates.

MICHAEL RO
Social Co-Chair
Fourth year (class of 2009)
mro@usc.edu

Judy Chen is a sophomore majoring in Neuroscience and double-minoring in Musical Studies and Cultural Competence in Medicine at USC. Aside from planning for the ITASA conference and stressing over pre-med classes and activities, she spends most of her time nowadays attempting to master Liszt's sixth Paganini Etude, playing tennis, and keeping up with the latest J-pop. Every so often, she visits Taiwan with family, but otherwise has not had much exposure to Taiwanese culture in her hometown of Camarillo, CA. She looks forward to meeting people from other schools, and to together discover more about the Taiwanese-American cultural identity at ITASA WCC 2009!

KATHLEEN CHENG
Publicity Committee
Third year (class of 2011)
chengkat@usc.edu

YAWEN CHENG
Logistics Co-Chair
Second year (class of 2011)
yawenche@usc.edu

Yawen Cheng is a second year neuroscience major minoring in piano performance. She was raised in Taiwan by her grandmother while her parents finished grad school at UCLA, moved to France for a few forgotten and insignificant months of her life, and then grew up in Naperville, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Her time has been spread thin across church, KCM, USC Med-COR, CASA, and her own demanding class schedule, but with everything considered her exposure to anything remotely Taiwanese is extremely minimal. She's looking forward to the conference, eager to meet new people and learn new things. She likes shaved ice with sweetened condensed milk, mango, and taro balls.

JASON TSO
Logistics Co-Chair
Third year (class of 2010)
jtso@usc.edu

Jason Tso is a third year neuroscience major with a minor in the natural sciences and in East Asian studies. Growing up in the heavily-Taiwanese city of San Marino, California, he has always been interested in Taiwanese American politics and group identity. To him, ITASA is a great time to address these critical issues, as they are often overlooked, especially by today’s young generation. Outside academics, he is active in the regional/national fencing community, being a certified national referee as well as holding the position of USC team captain.