DASAPIAN Award

The Davidson Asian South Asian Pacific Islander Alumni Network Award recognizes students for their contributions to Asian South Asian Pacific Islander (ASAPI) communities. The awardees demonstrated a combination of academic, activist, and/or advocacy services to the community.

Established in 2023 by the Davidson Asian South Asian and Pacific Islander Alumni Network (DASAPIAN), this award is presented annually at convocation and recognizes students for their contributions to the Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Islander (ASAPI) communities. Selected recipients have demonstrated a combination of academic, activist, and/or advocacy services to the community. 

Davidson Asian South Asian Pacific Islander Alumni Network Convocation Award Fund

In fall of 2023, DASAPIAN established the Davidson Asian South Asian Pacific Islander Alumni Network Convocation Award Fund. This fund will provide a stipend to support the summer experiences of the award recipients. While this is a step forward in support of the ASAPI community at Davidson, the more support we raise for the fund, the more we can provide to students. Thanks to the pledges of the following ASAPI alums, this fund will be endowed and this stipend will be awarded in perpetuity.

  • Beadsie Woo ’86
  • Prem Manjooran ’92
  • Gagan Gupta ’07
  • Paige Logan ’14
  • Yeeva Cheng ’15
  • Ashley Ip ’22
  • Audrey Meigs ’23
  • Rob Lim ‘91
  • Deepak Vijayathilikan ‘94
  • Michelle Lim Warner ‘02
  • Minne Iwamoto ‘91
  • Martha Iwamoto ‘91
  • Lillian Woo P ‘86
  • Anita Ng P’87, P’90
  • Cheryl Ng O’Malley ‘87
  • Donald O’Malley ‘86
  • Peter Ng ‘90
  • Kyong Lee ‘89
  • Gabriel Ng ‘21
  • Olivia Ng ‘ 21
  • Ester (Kim) ’84 & Sea Lee
  • Lulu Rhagavan ‘97
Pushpin

If you would like to support to the DASAPIAN Convocation Award you can make a gift by selecting “Other” as your designation and type in “DASAPIAN Endowed”.

Meet the 2024 Recipients:

Kavi Gandhi '25 is a public health major who is currently the co-President of South Asian Student Association. In his role, he has executed SASA’s first ever formal and implemented “Chai Chats” - a discussion around South Asian cultures and other pertinent issues. Kavi is an active participant of the Student Initiative for Academic Diversity, Davidson Banghri and a Dean Rusk grant recipient. 


Ann Nishida '24 is a biology major who is currently the secretary of the Pan Asian Student Association and also a founding member of the Japanese Student Association. Throughout her time at Davidson, Ann has supported countless PASA events and has been a constant presence in PASA’s leadership.


Jill Paquette '24 is a biology major who is an active member of the Pan Asian Student Association, STRIDE, and Student Initiative for Academic Diversity. Throughout her time at Davidson, she has dedicated herself to building community with adoptees on campus, particularly Asian and South Asian adoptees.


Catherine Tadlock '24 is an environmental Sciences major and East Asian studies minor who’s been an active member of the Pan Asian Student Association and an active volunteer with Davidson K-8. At Davidson K-8, Catherine has served as a tutor for Mandarin students acclimating to a new school environment. Catherine has also been a huge advocate for East Asian studies.