We the Asian Students In Action (ASIA), petition the Family School and Mental Health Professions Department in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES) of the University of San Diego to aggressively seek finalists for the CMHC tenure track position with an established history or identifies as Asian/Asian American and/or Pacific Islander. It is hoped that this CMHC professor will be licensed, culturally diverse and have a documented history of work that addresses the issues facing Asian/Asian American and/or Pacific Islander populations and communities.

Within the Department of School, Family, and Mental Health Professions CMHC core faculty, there exists a dearth of representation of professors whom identify as Asian/Asian American and/or Pacific Islander with specific training, skills, and knowledge relevant to Asian populations. Thus, there is a genuine lack of expertise offered in knowledge and awareness to the mental health needs culturally specific to this people.

According to an American Psychiatric Association Fact Sheet (APA, Office of Minority and National Affairs, 2010):

* Approximately 5% of the U.S. population - nearly 15 million people identify themselves as Asian Americans or Pacific Islander

* Asian Americans overall are better educated, have higher household incomes, and lower poverty rates than whites. However, the opposite is true for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

* Asian Americans are less likely to use mental health services than other populations born in the US.

* Asian Americans are much less likely than whites to report mental health problems to friends or relatives, psychiatrists or other mental health professionals

We highly encourage the SFMHP Department in SOLES to responsively consider the request of the growing Asian student population at the University of San Diego and to hire trained professionals that identify as such in an effort toward multicultural representation specific to Asian/Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Respectfully