Freeman Asian Scholars Association

Join us for an online informational session and student panel to learn about Wesleyan’s Freeman Asian Scholarship Program. The Freeman Asian Scholarship Program provides full scholarships for a four-year course of study toward a bachelor’s degree for up to eleven exceptionally able students annually from the following countries: the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Eligible students must be citizens or permanent residents of one of the eleven countries listed above and qualify for need-based financial aid. Applicants with dual U.S. citizenship or who are permanent U.S. residents are not eligible for this program.

If you are interested in learning more about the Freeman Asian Scholarship Program and connecting with current Freeman Scholars, please register using the link below. We hope you and your family can join us!

Freeman Asian Scholarship Program Info Session & Student Panel

Event Date & Time: Wednesday, November 18 at 8:00 AM (Eastern Standard Time)*

Register with this link: https://admission.wesleyan.edu/register/freeman2020

*Please note that the event time is listed in Eastern Standard Time.

Freeman Asian Scholarship Program Info Session & Student Panel  

We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy in these uncertain times!

FASA class of 2023 and the annual late night :)

For our 7th post! Please meet Julian Theseira!! From Class of 2014 :)

" What is a current project that is occupying your mind?:

A personal project that I am working on is to recover from depression, or at least to learn to manage it and live with it in a healthier manner. I have been battling depression for about three years and counting after a personal trauma, and have lived through several severe major depressive episodes during this time. My favorite literary image of the experience of depression is the wizarding prison of Azkaban from the Harry Potter universe, where inmates are surrounded by dark Dementors who make them constantly relive their worst and most painful memories and experiences. To continue the Harry Potter metaphor, I imagine my project to be the equivalent of trying to learn and master the Patronus charm, one of the most difficult charms, so that I can get out of Azkaban, and keep the Dementors away, or at least at a safe distance from me.


My ongoing journey of recovery and healing has been a learning and growing experience. I have learned a lot about myself and human nature, made friends who stand between me and the edge of the precipice, met people who shone light into my darkness, grown more sensitive, compassionate, empathetic, and mindful than I was before, became more appreciative of small daily moments of light such as the singing of birds at dawn, and also increased my knowledge of mental illness, healthcare systems, and health policies. I have learned that I am stronger, more resilient, and braver than I ever thought was possible. Since I experienced trauma and fell into depression, besides enduring pain and fighting daily battles against the Dementors, I have also graduated from a Master's program in International History at a reputable school of international affairs, gained initial professional experiences with international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, and jointly authored a chapter in a research publication for a major international Swiss bank. My desire to use my skills to positively impact the world remains strong despite my ongoing struggle with depression. I also learned that I apparently have the same Myers-Brigg personality type as Aragon, Galadriel, and Jon Snow (which is a pretty awesome combo). I draw strength from the knowledge that not all those who wander are lost, and I hope that someday the equivalent of my years wandering around Eriador will end and I will come into my own.


I recently moved back to Malaysia to be closer to family and old friends as I continue my journey, and also to gain access to more affordable healthcare. I have been gradually reconnecting with Malaysian Freemans, and hope to connect with other Freemans in Southeast Asia as well to learn more about the amazing and inspiring things that they are doing. I aim to find ways to contribute positively to Malaysia and Southeast Asia and the wider world. At the moment, I am doing some work for a Malaysian social enterprise that is an external partner of several United Nations agencies in Malaysia. I am still exploring opportunities that will allow me to maximize my positive impact in the world to the best of my abilities and hope to find something fitting soon.


What kind of Wesleyan experiences has shaped you to be who you are now?:

FASA became a family for me over the course of my time at Wesleyan. Like any family, we had our dramas and arguments sometimes, however like a family we were also there for each other when it mattered and we also shared many joyful, beautiful, and fun moments together. Many people I knew through FASA have been important sources of encouragement, inspiration, help, and support as I battled depression and worked to rediscover a sense of meaning, purpose, and direction for my life. I am especially thankful to those members of my FASA family who were there for me during my darkest and most painful moments, and who continue to encourage me as I continue on the journey of healing and recovery. I have also always been generous towards FASA and if underclassmen and women ever want to reach out to me please don’t hesitate to do so.


I was a CSS major at Wesleyan with a focus on history. CSS helped to stimulate my ongoing interest in human systems such as our forms of socio-economic, political, and business organization, and I am increasingly trying to understand how these systems shape and are shaped by environmental changes and transformative technologies and how humans can positively influence these trajectories. CSS was also an important community for me at Wesleyan and some of my CSS friends continue to be important sources of support and encouragement for me. History meanwhile is a discipline that is still helping me to grow in empathy and resilience, as I continue to learn about the traumas of the past, as well as about how human beings have found the strength and resources to endure tragedies and to rebuild after catastrophes.


While I was writing my Wesleyan thesis, my thesis advisor encouraged me to open my inner windows to allow the different parts of myself and my heritage to enrich my work. She is also the only professor who has ever told me not to be ashamed to be a person of faith in the academy because my faith is a source of moral courage, which is something the academy needs to be able to faithfully pursue its vocation of truth-seeking. Thanks to my advisor I learned the value of authenticity in my work and my relationships and to be courageous in seeking truth. My Wesleyan thesis is still the most fulfilling and successful intellectual project that I have worked on. I have since presented it at several academic conferences and adapted a chapter into a journal article. Through the thesis journey, I formed a profound bond with my advisor and we maintain a fruitful teacher-student relationship which is enriched by beautiful correspondence that is helping me to weather the ongoing storms of life.


Advise for FASA babies?:

I would repeat the advice I gave on the AAA House lawn five years ago to not procrastinate on life. Back then as I was preparing to graduate from Wesleyan, I spoke about how exams, papers, and deadlines come and go, but one might never get another chance to show up for a friend’s performance or research presentation, or support a friend who is going through a hard time, or simply spend a happy or beautiful moment with someone one cares about. Invest time and energy in relationships, because strong and healthy relationships are essential for long-term human wellbeing. My recent struggles have furthermore made me even more aware of the inherent fragility and transience of life. Since the present moment is really all we ever have, I think that it is all the more important to make the most of it and find the right balance between reflecting on the past, planning for the future, and living in the present.


I would also advise FASA babies to be kind and to practice kindness. We have an impact on every person we meet, and we have the power to determine if that impact is beneficial or harmful. Kindness can also help to soothe the pain we encounter in others or in our own lives. In my own life, I have experienced how kindness I gave to others which seemed small and insignificant turned out to be seeds that are now growing and surprisingly even bearing fruits that sustain me and others in this longest and darkest winter of my life. Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes, but I do believe that if we are all more mindful of our words and actions, and practice and choose kindness, the world will be a better place.


Please also support FASA. Serve on the exco if you can. I am thankful that I was allowed to serve two terms on the FASA exco and they were some of my most rewarding experiences at Wesleyan. I made many mistakes, but I also learned a lot from my fellow exco members. Your time on the FASA exco will be worth it. Showing up for FASA events is also really helpful. The exco works really hard to put together programs, just being present for them will already mean something.


Finally, I would advise FASA babies to keep fighting till the end when victory will crown everyone, in line with the spirit of Wesleyan. While there are still people being left behind, injustice, and suffering in the world, it is still not yet the end so we should keep fighting to make a world where everyone can enjoy the rewards of victory. Learn and grow as much as you can at Wesleyan, then go out and make the world a better place, whether it is by making money and donating it to good causes (as the Freeman family did), research, law, policy, advocacy, healing the sick and suffering, building technologies and other products that solve problems, creating movies, music, art, or books that express truths about life and the world, helping others to fulfill their potential through teaching or counselling, or via some other path that you all will find and build. Go Wes! Go FASA! "

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day from this year's FASA Spring Potluck!!

For our sixth please meet Mika Class of 2017 from the Philippines!!

"I started my new job 3 months ago at LinkedIn as a product manager (wow, it's been 3 months?!) It's been great (but very busy) so far. A lot of my work, while requires a good amount of technical and product sense, is interestingly drawing from a lot of my liberal arts background. I need to communicate with various stakeholders, speak different "languages", and think critically about the effects of the products I'm building.

A fun project I'm working on right now is a card game called Consensus! The cards show a series of "Who is most likely to __" prompts. 3...2...1..., point at the person you think fulfills the prompt the best. All those who point at the "consensus," win a point! Check us out on Kickstarter soon 😉"

Part of the proceeds from our annual FASA Late Night were recently donated to the Indonesian environmental conservation group, WALHI! Read more here:

FASA Late Night Donates Proceeds to Activist Group | Freeman Asian Scholars Association Traditionally, the annual FASA Late Night is where the new first-year class of Freeman Scholars bond together to organize the event, cook and sell food from their home countries, and raise funds to support FASA activities for the academic year. This past Fall 2018 semester, we aimed at using this ev...

For our fifth , Please meet Yusaku Takeda from Japan of the Class of 2014!


" I'm currently a third-year Ph.D. candidate at Harvard Business School studying and researching at the intersection of innovation management, organization theory, and corporate strategy. I'm also teaching a master's course on management at Harvard Extension School. After finishing my Ph.D., I envision my continued career as a faculty member at a leading business school.


Based at the business school, I am an academic in the field of management science, which is probably unfamiliar to most Wesleyan students. Management science is a multi-disciplinary field (mostly drawing theories and methods from economics, social psychology, and sociology) concerning various managerial, organizational, and business issues in the real world. For instance, social psychologists in the field of management study how some circumstances in workplaces motivate people but not in others. Sociologists might look at organizational structures, culture, and so on, that have different impacts on organizational members. Like academics in other disciplines, we research and publish in academic journals. At business schools, we also try to translate research findings into more applied knowledge that people can take and use, and disseminate that knowledge through teaching, books, and articles, and public speakings. Being able to stay connected to the “real world” is a real privilege in my discipline, allowing us to stay sane and learn from real-world problems.


In my case, I adopt the "socio-cognitive" lens and explore various cognitive processes at the individual, group, and organizational levels that influence the organization's decisions, strategies, and performances. For instance, I operate in literature trying to understand the roles and mechanisms of "organizational identity”—shared beliefs people in the organization have about "who they are" and "what they do" as an organization. There has been lots of research showing that organizational identity affects decisions and strategies that the organization makes, as well as how the given organization's identity influences business partners, consumers, or government regulators. Lots of research also shows how organizations construct, change or maintain their identities. I have been trying to extend this perspective to understand how organizational identity influences its capabilities to innovate—adoption and development of new technology, starting new businesses, and so on. Methods wise, I am a bit eclectic in that both methodological approaches and types of data I use are diverse. For example, in one research, I draw heavily on archival data—like company newspapers—and analyzed them using both qualitative and quantitative (statistical) methods. In another research, I used survey methodologies and interviews to get at people's "heads" directly. I'm also doing research analyzing the nation-wide review and user data on Yelp.com, using textual analysis methods. Many social scientists believe in specialization, and some even in the supremacy of specific approaches. But I firmly believe that research questions and problems are what determine methodologies, rather than vice versa.


To FASA babies:


I don’t have much advice to my fellow underclassmen, except to say—”enjoy your own Wesleyan.” Having spent five years since graduating from Wesleyan, I can safely say that the primary goal of college years should be to discover what you are passionate about and perhaps find ways to make that passion your job. But the job part should come at the end. Too often, undergraduate students are stressed out about logistical things like “figuring out your major, finding internships, finding jobs, etc.” But, none of these things matter that much in the longer perspective in life. Chances are these things will not be related to your eventual career when you will be in your 50s or 60s. A career (or life for that matter) is never a linear process. What seems like a linear process is only a product of retrospective sensemaking of actually chaotic and random series of events and actions leading to one another.


I was pretty laid back in my career planning and did only one internship at an online recipes company called Allrecipes.com. My role was to collect recipes from Japan to expand the recipe contents online and write blog posts about Japanese cuisine. It was a lot of fun but had nothing to do with my career. After graduating from Wesleyan, I took a job at an IT company in NYC, just because it was available. I did not enjoy the job and so I quit after the first three months. I got a research assistant position that was basically created for me at a university in Tokyo—there was no job opening or even job descriptions. My career has been quite random and rather chaotic, but I am glad that they happened in that way.


Rather than being caught up by 'what you are supposed to do,' you should do whatever you want to do that make you learn new things in college. Embrace chaos. Wesleyan offers a perfect place to do it. "

Sorry it has been a while, but! for our fourth feature, please meet Panisa Suwanarat Class of 2004!!

"what kind of Wesleyan experiences shaped you to be who you are now?
1) Wesleyan's diversity has taught me to be open-minded and embracing different backgrounds.
2) Liberal Art has given me well-rounded skills that allow me to explore different career path with minimal restrictions. I have gone from an analyst to web developer to project manager to brand manager.
3) Wesleyan friends especially Freeman are tight community, which gives me network all over the world. Hence, I always feel like I have friends wherever I go.
4) Given smaller class and school sizes, I get to help a professor as a research assistant, which has shaped my analytical skill.
5) Being in squash varsity has taught me resiliency and teamwork. Starting off as the only Asian on the team, I learnt to deal with cultural shock. I learn to lose, to be discipline and celebrate other’s success.
- whats a current project that is occupying your mind?
I'm a Global brand manager for CLEAR Anti-Dandruff shampoo living in Singapore. So I guess the project that keeps my mind busy is planning and developing new innovation that fills in consumer needs.
- advise for FASA babies?
Step out of your comfort zone and seize as many diverse opportunities as you can. "

if you know anyone or want to do a post yourself please do not hesitate to contact [email protected] or Facebook chat me at Sandy Kanjanakuha

For the third feature and the last one this year!

Meet Cindy Horng Class of 2017

"When I got to Wes, I knew nothing and was so excited about exploring everything that I said “yes” to any opportunity, stepped out of my comfort zone, and went to as many events as I could. I think it’s primarily thanks to this open and enthusiastic attitude that I met so many people, made so many friends, and learned so much. I experienced the world from vastly different perspectives, was recruited to co-publish books and co-found startups, and set off on a path that led me to today. I would not be who I am now, both professionally and personally, without chance encounters with so many inspirational people. I made mistakes, but there’s no better place to stumble than at Wes. My advice to FASA babies is this: be open to going to new places, doing new things, and reaching out to random people! Humans (and other earthly beings) are awesome 😀"

For our second feature of

Meet Ka Ya Lee!!

"I am a third-year Ph.D. student at Harvard Graduate School of Education. My expertise is in philosophy of education, and my research is on the intersection of education, ethics, and epistemology. Before starting graduate school, I taught ESL and philosophy to Japanese secondary school students in Tokyo, Japan.

What kind of Wesleyan experiences shaped you to be who you are now?
Two things stand out for me. First, the College of Social Studies helped me tremendously: I learned how to accurately read, efficiently capture the main ideas from a text, and effectively communicate complex ideas both in writing and speech. These skills that I cultivated thanks to the rigorous classes in CSS turned out to be useful not only in my later academic pursuit but also in my industry experiences as well.

Second, Wesleyan students’ appreciation for art opened my worldview. Before coming to Wesleyan, I never took interests in engaging with art, but thanks to many of my artistically inclined friends at Wesleyan, I learned how to appreciate a variety of artistic expressions such as music, paintings, theater, etc. These social experiences changed and enriched my life so much!

What's a current project that is occupying your mind?
At least in the United States, we have entered an era in which we all recognize the need to elevate minority voices. This raises a question pertaining to education: who ought we to teach about in the K-12 education context, on what ground, and how? These are the questions that I hope to address in my doctoral dissertation.

Advice for FASA babies?
Learn how to take a good care of yourself --- both mentally and physically. Psychological and physical self-care is something I started digging in when I started working after graduating from Wesleyan. Adult life demands a lot from you, and I guess this was a necessary step. There are many helpful online articles and books. I recommend reading them up and practicing self-care. "

We will be featuring Freeman alums every other Friday from this week onwards! This is so that everyone still has an idea to what other people are doing and what is life like after Wesleyan! If you know any alums who you think should be featured or want to yourself, please send an email to [email protected] or Facebook me at Sandy Kanjanakuha

For our first feature!!

"Hi there, my name is Jason Christian Wangsadinata , alumni of Wesleyan class of 2017, and also a Huffington-Freeman scholar. I am currently based in Tangerang, Indonesia working as a Systems Developer for a small startup. In my spare time, I love to travel, eat, record some of my musical ideas, or learn new technologies (a nerd at heart. really).�

The experience of studying (and being) at Wesleyan is definitely one of the most transformative and life-changing ones. Wesleyan is a place where I was able to explore my interests, try different things and make mistakes. Heh, I would not trade for anything the fact that I took 14 music classes and ended up not majoring in it. �

To all the current FASA babies, definitely make the most of your time at Wesleyan. If you ever thought of taking that Gamelan class, learning a new language, or even bringing your instrument to play at Espwesso, just do it. Be bold, and be ready to fail at times. Discover your interests, and figure out your other talents while you there. Find that friends that you know you can count on for the rest of your life.��

Oops, didn’t mean to write this much but I guess you guys will read it anyway 😊. Feel free to hit me up/add me of facebook if you guys want to reach out and ask more questions (or even plan to visit Indonesia). Would definitely love to hear from you guys."