A $250,000 contribution from Chevron honoring Peter Robertson, recently retired as Vice-Chairman, and his wife Candy, has underwritten $50,000 for Culture Bridge first-year activities including room and board awards for two resident scholars, Jennifer Jue-Steuck (right) and Lisa Kamino (left). The scholars are charged with monitoring the progress of the initiative including auditing the first semester-long course while conducting background analysis to ensure the House is aware of intercultural resources and training best-practices on and off campus.
Jennifer Jue-Steuck is a Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies Ph.D. Candidate who brings a unique perspective to her Culture Bridge role. “As a transracial and transnational Chinese adoptee who grew up in a multicultural American family in Laguna Beach, California, I learned during my early years how intercultural issues impact lives on a daily basis.” Jue-Steuck, who was born to a birth mother from Jiangsu Province, China, and is founder of Chinese Adoptee Links (CAL) International continues: “It’s easy to think that culture is ‘natural’ –like the air that we breathe–but the truth is that culture is socially constructed. Without learning how to translate the science of different social codes, our ability to navigate cultures is severely limited, like driving a car in fog, unable to see the lay of the land. I’m very excited and honored to participate in this project, which I hope will provide new clarity, insights, and skills for navigating cultures to empower individuals to be leaders at the forefront of cross-cultural communications in our increasingly global world.”
Lisa Kamino, a first-year graduate student at the School of Optometry, feels personally connected to the Culture Bridge Initiative due to her multicultural background. “Growing up in suburban Camarillo, CA, I wasn’t able to enjoy the same level of diversity that we have here at UC Berkeley. I often felt alienated, not just because I was ‘different’ from my classmates, but also because I didn’t quite ‘fit-in’ with my father’s Japanese family or my mother’s 5th-generation Californian family. I feel like many other students have experienced a feeling of cultural disconnect at some point in their lives, whether it be personally or professionally,” says Lisa Kamino. “My vision for the Culture Bridge Initiative is to empower students to feel more ‘at home’ in the global community, not only through learning about other cultures, but also through discovering more about their own identities as well. In the future, I hope to translate my studies and I-House experience to work internationally providing vision care services to communities in need. I feel that the Culture Bridge program is a great stepping stone to learning how to work with members of different cultures to achieve humanitarian goals.”
Peter and Candy Robertson expressed their enthusiasm for the two scholars and Culture Bridge initiative: “We think Jennifer and Lisa are terrific and are glad we can support them and this important new initiative for International House–a cause and a purpose we back whole heartedly.” |
Lisa Kamino (left) and Jennifer Jue-Steuck are the Peter & Candy Robertson Culture Bridge Scholars.
See related article on Culture Bridge.
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