Dephny Duan

Growing up as the first daughter of immigrants and a first-generation student added a lot of responsibility for Dephny, an Eleanor Roosevelt College International Studies – Political Science major. “My parents immigrated to the United States without support, and they faced many challenges in establishing roots here. So, from a young age, I had to support my family in translation work to help overcome the language barriers they faced, in addition to learning about social and institutional systems to best support my parents, sibling, and family.” She also had to figure out how to get to college and navigate that new world on her own, learning which resources were available to her.

Recognized as a Chancellor’s Scholar at UC San Diego, Dephny is a proud interdisciplinary scholar in the humanities and social sciences as well as a community leader. “My drive is fueled by my curiosity and passion for global diversity, justice, and community.” She is committed to a degree in International Studies – Political Science with a unique combination of double minors in Human Rights and Migration Studies and Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies to bridge academia, policy, and community in her studies.

She doesn’t just excel in academics. “I am dedicated to empowering and fostering community for the minoritized at and beyond UC San Diego, efforts that naturally overlap with my education. Most recently, I helped to spearhead the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community Archival Project, an archival and oral history project in partnership with UC San Diego Library, AAPI Studies at UC San Diego, and Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American (APIMEDA) Programs and Services at UC San Diego. The project seeks to share the experiences of community members throughout the years as well as to connect generations of communities at and beyond the university with current students and community members through the preservation of decades-long student and community activism for the AAPI community.” Dephny has helped establish channels for multi-generational, multicultural, and multi-dimensional interactions, revealing that we are all more connected than disconnected.