This is my first time writing a Bruinwalk review and it's because I LOVE PROFESSOR FONG. She is the best professor I've had at UCLA thus far, and I've been here for three years now. She took such care to convert her class to an online format that was organized and well thought out so that students were never confused about their responsibilities or expectations for the course. Though the class was online, she was able to connect with her students and provided a space for us to connect with each other. She has such a mastery of the subject matter she teaches, and explains extremely complex issues with incredible clarity. Beyond that, she did extra work to connect course material to current events that helped me to understand the underlying issues much better than I would have been able to on my own.

I got an A- in this class because I didn't use my office hours to go talk to my TA about my essays. I think that if I did, I would've ended up with an A. This class has a good amount of weekly readings and Professor Fong is a great lecturer, so if you are just on top of your readings and go to class, you will be fine. The midterm and final are both short-answer and long-answer essay tests and are not too difficult.

Easily one of the best classes I've taken at UCLA, grateful to have enrolled + professor truly cares about the students + Dr. Fong is a great connection

The other reviewers for Fall '24 clearly dgaf about their education, maybe if you actually put effort into the class and showed up to lecture then you'd understand the exams/progression of the class? lol

Lectures are engaging + build off one another, the very final lecture was one of the most memorable classroom moments in my time at UCLA

A common complaint is that lecture slides aren't shared, but I think it's to get students to show up to lecture --- if you show up to lecture and participate, you'll get more out of the class

If you're interested in Asian American history and identity definitely take this course, the other reviewer for Fall '24 clearly does not care about humanities (didn't show up to lecture??), this class only made me more interested in the humanities

If you put effort into the class Dr. Fong will take notice + will be willing to help you out in the future, given that it's difficult to make a connection with some other professors at UCLA I would 100% take advantage

This class was horrible. Professor Fong was uptight for no reason. She would post lecture slides and take them down after a week. Her final was a 6 page essay with the most complicated prompt.

i would not take this class for several reasons. i think the textbook is terribly written; the other readings assigned are fine to good but the main textbook is just awful and honestly not worth anyone's time. i think prof is bizarrely protective over lecture slides that essentially amount to a few bullet points that summarize readings + some pictures usually from the textbook but fear not anyone who is reading this who has already enrolled and cannot switch to a more interesting ge: i went to three lectures total, did not look at lecture slides, and (fairly) smoothly received an A in the course. and in general i find what was actually taught was pretty mediocre. it's an intro class of course but walking into lecture and getting hit with definition of imperialism as "When a country has a large influence on another country" and colonialism as "When a country occupies another country" nearly ended me permanently. it actually made me start to question the value of humanities education as it currently exists and i have always loved the humanities. in short save urself it's not that hard but it's also not worth it. just find a book on the particular aspect of asian american history you want to learn about and read that

Dr. Fong is a passionate teacher who truly cares about educating her students on the importance of Asian American history. Her course isn't overly difficult, but it does require a lot of reading. I stopped keeping up with the readings after the midterm, which didn't affect me much because the final was open note. I was able to use the readings during the final in order to find quotes and correctly cite things. So, make sure to stay on top of the assigned readings for the midterm. After that, you can slack off a bit if you need to. You can also just listen to the presentations for the assigned readings during the discussion.

She is strict on sharing her course content. For example, she closes her slides after a week, I think. In addition, she doesn’t allow any audio/video recordings, screenshots, or photos. So, make sure to take notes with the date and title. That’ll be very helpful to cite for the final. Her lectures are also basically a review of “The Making of Asian America: A History” by Erika Lee.

Dr. Fong is very passionate about the subject and explains course material very well. Some of the stuff in her lectures is just a repeat of what's in the assigned readings, but the repetition makes the info stick. There's a lot of extra credit for this class (20 points possible) so be on the look out for that. Something else that's also very helpful is that she puts out constant reminders for assignment deadlines. Make sure to take notes during lecture because she doesn't let you save her slides and she removes the slides/lecture vids from Canvas a week after she posts it.

Also, I'm selling a brand new copy of The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui for $12! Email me at ************* if you're interested.

I entered this class with little interest in the topic, because I heard it was an easy class. I genuinely feel interested in the topic now due to Dr Fong's enthusiasm for the topic. Lectures are well structured, and readings complement topics covered in lecture very well. There is adequate preparation for exams, and the requirements for the final paper are clearly laid out.

Grading in this class is also very lenient

This was one of the most engaging classes I've taken at UCLA. Professor Fong is an amazing lecturer. She transitioned very nicely to online and was able to adjust her class with the student's learning being her top priority. I would highly recommend taking this class if you are Asian American because it gives you major insight into your ethnic group's history with the US, something overlooked in normal history classes. There are a lot of readings but they give needed background for lecture.

Professor Fong was by far the best, most engaging, and most accommodating professor I've had thus far at UCLA! Despite the transition to online instruction being so sudden, her efforts in making her lectures and slides more accessible to us at home while also involving discussions regarding recent events such as the BLM movement and COVID-19 anti-Asian sentiment. Her lectures were engaging and packed with information, and her class readings were long but very interesting to read as an Asian-American myself. I will definitely look to take more classes taught by her in the future, and I 110% recommend taking Asian Am 10 even if you're not a North campus major.