News Release
Diversity lecture series continues Feb. 5
February 2, 2009
Midstate resident Ho-Thanh Nguyen, the founder and president of the Pennsylvania Immigrant Refugee Women‘s Network (PAIRWN), is the Feb. 5 presenter in Penn State Harrisburg‘s year-long Diversity Lecture Series.
Nguyen will discuss the immigrant experience at noon in the Gallery Lounge of the Olmsted Building. The presentation is free and open to the public. For information, phone 717-948-6180.
Hosted by the college’s Diversity and Educational Equity Committee, the series entitled “The Anatomy of Social Justice: A Call to Action” supports Penn State Harrisburg’s commitment to foster community dialog on issues while providing a forum for the exchange of diverse perspectives.
Reflecting on the college commitment, Director of Student Affairs Felicia Brown-Haywood says, “The diversity and inclusion programming at Penn State Harrisburg is a co-curricular function which provides a forum for living out the principles found in good citizenship and understanding others. The various events and activities on campus provides a forum to recognize and appreciate diversity and the need for inclusion at the table for all.”
She adds, “There is a myriad of research supporting how diverse learning environments positively affect the critical thinking, civic commitment, and skill development to work in a global society for all involved.”
Born and raised in Saigon, Nguyen and five of her brothers and sisters escaped from Vietnam in a cargo boat crowded with refugees in 1975 and a few months and several camps later they landed at Fort Indiantown Gap.
She again waited until a church and family sponsored them and helped them start a new life. When questioned about the first time she really felt safe, Nguyen replies, “When I went to work here. It was the first time when I got my job and I went to work … at that time I realized that we were not going back. We were here for good and we were not fighting.”
She settled in the area, married, and has raised two children. PAIRWN was founded in 2001 when she and nine other women from diverse backgrounds joined forces to assist each other in taking leadership roles within their communities.
Today, its members are women from all over the world who have made Pennsylvania their new home. Since its inception, the organization has successfully organized and networked in local immigrant and refugee communities, forging partnerships with individuals and communities, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and media.
More than 30 years after her arrival in America, she continues to give back to the region in the way she knows best – by offering a helping hand to women who are now in the position she once found herself.