Alan Vu during his first trip to Spain [photo courtesy UCSB Department of History]
UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School laments the passing of Alan Vu, who was to enter the Department of Education as a master’s student this fall.
Vu grew up in San Jose, CA where he attended St. Francis High School. He graduated from UC Irvine with bachelor’s degrees in sociology and international studies. Out of college, he worked in New Mexico with high school students as a program instructor and Upward Bound academic advisor. He joined UCSB Admissions as an admissions counselor in 2014 where he did extensive high school outreach for more than two years. During the 2016-17 academic year, he was the Undergraduate Programs Assistant in the College of Letters and Science, where he supported undergraduate research and internship initiatives, not limited to UCDC, UCCS (Sacramento Center), Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities, Faculty Research Assistance Program, the Transfer Student Center, and the Transfer Student Research Award.
In August 2017, Alan joined the Department of History as the undergraduate student services coordinator (part of the Humanities Administrative Support Center) where he supported students in history, medieval studies, and history of public policy. He served as a discussion leader for ED 118 (the Transfer Success Course) during winter 2017.
Vu was also deeply involved in the UCSB Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, a collective of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) staff and faculty at UCSB that aims to create a supportive, proactive, and knowledge-sharing community in order to ensure a welcoming, safe, and inclusive campus for the AAPI identified individuals. He was currently serving as executive chairman of the group.
He is survived by his partner of seven years, mother, and two brothers. He was 28 years old.
“In my initial meeting with Alan what came across was his great warmth, enthusiasm, professionalism, and intellectual curiosity,” says Professor Sharon Conley, who was to be his advisor. “I very much looked forward to him joining and being a great asset to our program.”