The Reconstruction of the VSA Forum


1) Please create a new login username and password.

2) Please use your University of Minnesota email.

3) Your registration will be subjected for validation.

4) In order to be validated, you must be a member of the Vietnamese Student Association at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and have a valid University of Minnesota email.

5) Guest can view and post only in the GuestBook.

General Mtg 10-21-04

American-Asian American Studies:
There are some people who would like to create and offer Asian-American studies as a major. Basically, their initiative is to focus on the identities of Asians and have people aware of the various Asian cultures in America. So far, there are some courses available that have some Asian-American studies:

Afro 4231: The Color of Public Policy
All 3001: Reading Asian Cultures
Amst 3113: America’s Diverse Cultures: Asian America: Asian America Since WWII
Anth 4047: The Anthropology of American Culture
EngL 4311: Asian American Literature and Drama
Soc 3251: Sociological Perspectives on Race, Class, and Gender

There is also a Asian American Studies Luncheon where you get FREE FOOD & DRINKS!!!!
It will be on Monday, October 25, 2004
1:30 – 3 PM
324 Coffman Memorial Union

Guestspeaker: osephine Lee, Ph.D
“Come explore the rapidly growing field of Asian American Studies.
Find out what ‘Asian American’ means.
Grapple w/ the challenges Asian Americans face in contemporary society.
Learn how Asian American studies can help you today.”

For further info, contact: Kong Vang, vang0524@umn.edu
Kurt Miyashiro, miya0034@umn.edu
Or call (612-625-8845)

VSA Tet 2005:
Great news…Great Hall in Coffman has opened up so we went ahead and booked the place. It is cheap, large enough for the audience, and is at a convenient location. Thu has sent out a sign up sheet for those who would like to volunteer in the Tet committee. Just send your schedule to vsa@umn.edu so that we could go ahead and set up a date for the first Tet committee meeting. At the meeting, volunteers will decide on the “subgroups” i.e. Singing, Acting, MCs, Fashion Show….etc to be performed for Tet 2005. There will be two leaders per subgroup and one “manager” of the whole Tet committee. More details later during the meeting.
Regarding grants/ proposals, we have wonderful people (Florence Tran & Nhien Bui) to volunteer to write up grants and proposals so that we can finance our Tet event. The Tet committee would need to give and “estimate” of what they want to do and how much money they would need. Again, that will be determined during Tet committee meetings.

VSA Appreciation Day:
The weekend either before or after Thanksgiving, VSA will host a fun “appreciation day” for members who have contributed a lot of their time and efforts in VSA. On that day, there will be a cook-off where people can show off their talents. This event is a potluck event so please bring something to share with others. The only thing that VSA will provide is che` - Vietnamese dessert. The kind of dessert will be voted on as well as the date of the event.

VSA 1st Group Volunteer Project:
There is a volunteer opportunity for VSA to help out and raise money for Tet and future VSA related events. Basically, we’ll be selling food and beverages at the Metrodome. Each member will receive $60 and each manager will receive $80. There is training involved for two days. We must do the training before we can actually pick the dates/ time/ games we want to volunteer in. Please volunteer and help out for the cause. It’s a great way to get to know your members and get experience and good for resume also . For more information please contact vsa@umn.edu and Christina Nguyen, our treasurer will answer your questions.

Sweat Heart Dance:
VSA is planning to have a Valentine’s dance to fundraise for future VSA events. More info on this will be announced. As of now, this dance is dependent on how successful Tet is and whether we have enough grants to pull it off.

Star-Search:
The name itself is self-explanatory The purpose of this project is for fundraising be become more involved within the community. This project is aimed towards the Vietnamese community and will take place around April. However, this is around finals so we’ll see how this works out. This project is also dependent on the leftover money from Tet and from the Valentine’s dance if we do have one.

VSA T-Shirt Contest:
VSA is having a T-shirt design contest for the 2004-2005 year. Any witty and/ or unique slogans come to mind? Any cool designs? Well if you are a doodler and you think that your art is what should be on the VSA t-shirt then please submit your ideas to vsa@umn.edu. We can vote on the design and winner will receive a prize. Further details on when the deadline and when the contest will take place will be determined but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get a head start!

Orientation Leader Job:
Need a job? Be and orientation leader and welcome freshmen to the U of M! What a great way to meet new faces. To be qualified, you must be a U student. You will receive $2800 for the summer, free food, live on campus, and free stuff such as a jacket, 2 polos, and a new bookbag. Just apply online.

VSA,

As you probably have heard, VSA is working with the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) to offer two advance Vietnamese language courses for students with Vietnamese background (which most of us are). The initiative was lunched last year, and for those who are new to VSA this year I’ll give you a recap of what went on last year until recently:

Why we need to have Vietnamese courses?
The mission of VSA is to maintain and promote the Vietnamese culture at the University of Minnesota. The annual Tet (New Year) Celebration helps VSA maintain the Vietnamese culture. In order to promote the Vietnamese culture, VSA needs to find a new approach that can expand its influences outside the Vietnamese circle. We felt that Vietnamese language, culture, and history courses will help educate University’s students about the people and culture of Vietnam.

The initiatives taken from last year until now.
During the 2004 Tet Celebration, VSA started to lunch the campaign for the Vietnamese language courses by gathering surveys at the Tet Celebration. Dedicated members went around the campus to collect surveys from U of M students (Viet and non-Viet), drafted the proposal letter, and had meetings with CLA staff. During the summer, we received the good news that the proposal was approved by the CLA Dean with the initial plan to offer two advance Vietnamese courses starting in the Fall of 2005. If the courses are successful in 2005, there is a good chance that we will request CLA to open more Vietnamese courses such as literature, culture, and history. Thanks to all the hard work of all members who are helping with this initiative.

Updates
Currently, the former VSA President and I are taking the lead on this project. We are on the CLA Vietnamese Search Committee that is scheduled to meet in October. The University will place ads in the local newspapers searching for a potential instructor to teach the courses. If you know individuals who are interested, ask them to look for the ads that will come out within 1-2 weeks. Most likely it will be in the Asian American Press and Ngay Nay Minnesota. I will keep you updated with the progress on a monthly basis at the VSA meetings.

Demanding the University to open up new courses of our interests is a long process and we must maintain our determination. It is important that VSA members understand and maintain this support.

VSA Membership Application



PDF:

http://www.sharemation.com/vsa/VSAMembershipApp.pdf

Word Document:

http://www.sharemation.com/vsa/VSAMembershipApp.doc


You can fill it out and email it to vsa@umn.edu. Thanks!

1. General guidelines

a. The UMM World-Wide Web site is an official publication of the University of Minnesota, Morris. Because of its status as an official, institutional publication, individuals do not have a guaranteed right to add unrestricted content to it.
b. The UMM WWW Advisory Group has set these guidelines to serve as UMM policy on the content of the UMM WWW site. Comments or questions should be directed to Nancy Mooney or John Bowers.

c. All pages which are part of (i.e., directly linked from) the UMM WWW site must follow the University of Minnesota policy on Publishing Information on the World-Wide Web. All pages must also follow the additional guidelines given in this policy.

d. The U of M policy contains different requirements for personal pages and for official University pages. The appropriate requirements must be met. Note that in addition to the policy statement at the above address, further rules are contained in a link from the word "Guidelines." Copyright protection for personal and University pages differ; go to copyright to see how to appropriately copyright a web page.

e. WWW pages which reside on UMM systems but are not linked to the UMM WWW site must not use the University of Minnesota wordmark, must not be used to conduct University business, and must not give the impression that they are official University pages.

f. Different guidelines will apply to three separate categories of UMM pages: central pages, unit pages, and linked personal pages.
-Central pages include the UMM home page and centrally-maintained pages such as directory listings.
- Unit pages include any material placed online by a UMM division, discipline, or department with the purpose of providing University information.
-Linked personal pages are those created and maintained by an individual (student, faculty, or staff) which are linked to a UMM central or unit page.

2. Design guidelines

a. All UMM unit home pages (i.e., the first page of a unit's Web information; the unit page which is directly linked to the UMM central information) will contain these graphic elements:
- A unit-name banner created for the unit in the approved design style of the UMM WWW site. (example)
- The UMM toolbar (navigational element). (example)

b. These elements may be incorporated into unit pages beyond the unit home page if they are appropriate.

c. The UMM toolbar may be supplemented with additional buttons if they are appropriate for navigating within a unit's WWW information. Added buttons must be designed for the unit in the approved design style of the UMM WWW site.

d. Per the U of M policy statement, personal pages, whether for student, staff, or faculty members, may not contain the University of Minnesota wordmark or any other symbols of the University or campus.

e. A recommendation: be aware that a significant portion of the world's population have visual disabilities, including difficulties distinguishing between colors. Text and background color should contrast strongly. Various shades of red in backgrounds and text, as well as combinations of green and yellow, will be problematic for a large number of users. Additionally, avoid the use of extremely small text in graphical images, as its size cannot be increased by the Web browser.

3. Content guidelines

a. University unit pages and central pages must contain the University of Minnesota equal opportunity (EEO) statement (text may not be altered): "The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer."

b. Per the U of M policy guidelines, linked personal pages (whether for students, staff, or faculty members) must contain the following disclaimer statement (text may not be altered): "The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota."

c. Per the U of M policy guidelines, all pages, whether personal or unit pages, must contain the URL (uniform resource locator, or Internet address) of the page, and the page's last-modified date.

d. Copyrighted materials may not be used without permission.

e. Linked software must be used in compliance with the software license agreement. Filters and scripts must be created and put in place to protect any linked software which is licensed for use only at UMM.

f. Because the UMM Web site is an official and public University publication, no information may be provided about students, faculty, staff, or alumni without the appropriate permissions. When information is provided which goes beyond the University's stated guidelines for public information, a signed written permission statement must be on file.

g. UMM does not permit links to commercial sites for financial incentives, except on pages of departments identified by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance as auxiliary departments. This is an interim policy which the advisory group will revisit as necessary.

h. Because UMM is a public institution, photo releases are not required for candid photos taken in public areas. However, a page owner should voluntarily remove any photo from the UMM Web site if the subject of the photo objects to its use, and anybody taking photographs for use on the UMM Web site should respect all requests from individuals who ask to be excluded at the time the pictures are taken.

i. UMM students and vendors who have donated their services in creating UMM web pages may include text credits (name and/or company name) but not logos on the UMM page. Links to company pages are not allowed at this time. Links to a student creator's personal page are allowed only if the personal page is hosted by a UMM server.

4. Structural guidelines

a. UMM's primary Web servers are on two computers: www.mrs.umn.edu and cda.mrs.umn.edu. Code and content for central pages and unit pages should reside on www.mrs.umn.edu. Personal pages may reside on either server.

b. Other sites and servers are not approved for use at the UMM WWW site. No unit or personal page may be a part of (i.e., directly linked from) the UMM WWW site or from any official UMM directory page from any system other than the two computers mentioned in 4a.

c. Because unlinked personal pages are not considered to be part of the UMM Web site, and because they may contain private information, the UMM search engine has been configured not to search pages that reside in users' personal accounts (i.e., the public_html directory of any account). Therefore, all central and unit pages should reside in directories descending from the UMM server root (i.e., directories which do not require a tilde (~) in the URL). Student organization pages may choose whether to use personal accounts or server root directories, but the organization's pages will not be indexed in the UMM search engine if the content is in a personal account.

d. UMM has chosen HTML version 2.0 as its minimum standard for graphical Web browsing. All UMM pages must be usable in any HTML 2.0-compatible browser (for example, Netscape 2.0). Pages which include non-standard additions not available in the HTML 2.0 specification must offer an alternative version of the page which is usable in any HTML 2.0-compatible browser.

e. Pages which contain menus based on imagemaps should also include an alternate text menu. Images should contain a text alternate if the image is meaningful to the content of the page. Be aware that not all Web browsers are graphical browsers.

5. Personnel guidelines

a. Every page in the UMM WWW site must have an owner who is reponsible for maintaining its content and its HTML code. The owner must be a single individual and must be either a student, staff, faculty member, or contracted consultant of UMM.

b. Units who have Web pages must report the name of their page owners to the UMM Webmaster. A unit's ownership of a page is permanent. When an individual page owner leaves the unit or the University, the name of the new page owner must again be reported to the Webmaster.

c. The UMM Webmaster will maintain a list of all unit page owners (and the pages they own) and a corresponding electronic mail distribution list. The list will be used for distributing updates to this policy and guidelines document, as well as other information useful to UMM page owners.

d. A mechanism for contacting the page owner should be provided on unit home pages, either as a "mailto:" button or as simple text.

e. In accepting the responsibility for owning a unit page, all unit page owners must agree to respond to all inquiries and mail in a responsible and professional manner, including forwarding off-topic inquiries to the appropriate individual at UMM who can respond usefully.

f. Units and individuals must not include a "mailto: webmaster" button, or anything which directs messages to the UMM Webmaster, on their pages without permission.

g. Units and individuals may not automatically direct mail to anybody without that individual's permission, except via central directory pages.

Full details at: http://www.mrs.umn.edu/cs/web/webpol.shtml

The main page, "http://www.tc.umn.edu/~vsa", is a read-only page where the announcements about any current activities and meetings will be posted. On the leftside of the website is the "Site Navigation" where you can explore what VSA is all about, their goals, and the fun side of VSA. You can view other forums in the "View Forums" and also post your own questions, concerns, or anything.

P.S. Check out our Halloween Bash pictures in the "Post Pictures" when you click on the "View Forums" on the "Site Navigation" link.

Special Events and Projects Intern

UNPAID internship. Accepting applications now!

The Vietnamese Community of Minnesota is currently looking for a
Special Events & Projects Intern. This is a high-powered internship for a
college student who is interested in nonprofits and community-based
organizations. Work directly with the Vietnamese Community of
Minnesota’s president to help assisting the planning and organization of the
2007 Tet Festival scheduled for Saturday, February 17, 2007.

Working with Vietnamese people of all ages, community organizations,
sponsors & businesses. This internship can be done for academic credit,
community-service learning, or career exploration. Flexible hours. Time
commitment: Varies (less than 10 hours each week).

Skills Required:
· Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
· Detail oriented, self-directed and resourceful.
· General administrative skills.
· All majors are encouraged to apply.
· Bilingual in both Vietnamese & English (preferably)

How To Apply:
Submit a resume & cover letter to or email it to info@vietnamminnesota.org.

Phuong Dao, President
Vietnamese Community of Minnesota
P.O. Box 40207
St. Paul, MN 55104

For more information about the organization or this internship, please
contact Phuong Dao at 612-414-3877 or info@vietnam-minnesota.org/.

SUPost (www.supost.com) is the new UMN campus marketplace. (It requires a umn.edu email address to post.)



Check it out, and sell your stuff.!

PS – see the newspaper article in the MN Daily at http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/08/16/68729

Congratulations to our new board! I hope that we have a great succesful year, even better than the last!

President: Lan - Lyly Nguyen

Vice President: Helen Tran

Secretary: Wendy Le

Treasurer: Duyen Truong

Activities Coordinator #1: Bonnie Nguyen

Activities Coordinator #2: Luyen Nguyen

Public Relations #1: Sopheak Pho

Public Relations #2: Jimmy Nguyen

Public Relations #3: Anthony Viet Quoc Hoa

Education Chair #1: John Paul Pham

Education Chair #2: Lam Tu

Webmaster #1: Thinh Le

Webmaster #2: Maily Nguyen

Historian: Ha Dinh

Compliance Officer: Florence Tran

Senior Board Member #1: Chi Vo

Senior Board Member #2: Tuyen Trinh

Senior Board Member #3: Jesse Lund
Email: lund0751@umn.edu

Senior Board Member #4: Huong Tran

Senior Board Member #5: Doan Trinh

Advsior #1: Lilly Nguyen

Advisor #2: Tran Huynh

Advsior #3: Hanna Nguyen

Hi Everyone!

This is a reminder for all of you who plan to go to the VSA retreat this
year. The food fee for this year will be $20 for Friday night, all day
Saturday, and Sunday morning. This money need to be handed in to ME(Tuyen
Trinh) or Florence Tran BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 24TH (this is so that we, the old
and new ACs, would be able to go grocery shopping and prepare for the
weekend).

IMPORTANT: Since we can only allow a maximum of 30 people and to make sure
people will show up, the $20 payment is the GAURANTEED CONFIRMATION of your
RSVP. In other words, I will not put ur name down on the RSVP list UNLESS U
GIVE ME THAT $20!!!



Once again, here is the info about the date and time:

VSA RETREAT
@ a lake house in Cambridge, MN (about 1 hr away)
Memorial Weekend-May 26-28
Friday 7 pm to Sunday 12 pm

***Transportation: We can carpool...anyone with a car (especially w/ a van)
willing to drive, Please let me know!!! Everyone will meet behind Coffman
Union at 6:00 pm SHARP on Friday and head off together, get there at 7 pm.

***Other things: -bring sleeping bags if u got any (there's only three
rooms-->two queen beds, one bunk bed, one twin bed, and one soft bed...so u
can do the math for 30 ppls) -bring a tent if u want to camp outside
-clothes and personal toiletries enough for three days -a blanket and a
pillow -??? i will let u know if there's anything else u need to bring


Well, that's it for now! Hope to c u all soon at the retreat. It will be a
lot of FUN...I PROMISE!!!

Your beloved AC,
Tuyen Trinh

----------VOLUNTEER TO SERVE ON GRANTS COMMITTEES----------
Are you interested in a great Volunteer Involvement Opportunity? The
Student Activities Office is proud to offer students several unique
volunteer opportunities. Are you interested in being involved in grant
committee work? If so, here is your chance! We are currently seeking
applicants for our Administrative, Event Partnership and Coca-Cola Grant
Committees.

For more information and an application, please go to this link:
http://www.sao.umn.edu/groups/funding/grants/involvement.php.

If you have further questions, please contact the Student Grants
Coordinator, Katie Hoffman by phone at 612-625-5985 or by email at
hoff0530@umn.edu

Hi Helen,
This is Aeriel Anderson, I am one of the Freshmen Orientation Coordinators
for 2006. I am in the process of preparing the walk-a-mile facilitation
for our orientation leaders and am in need of someone to be a
translator/tour guide who is fluent in another language besides English. I
am not sure if you remember this particular scenario, but essentially one
of our OLs is matched up with someone who is fluent in another language,
and the OL has to try to navigate the U by only communicating with his/her
interpreter. Lisa mentioned that you may have a connection with VSA, or
may be able to refer me to someone interested/available to help us out.
The program date is Wednesday April 19th. The time committment is about
1.5 hours starting @ 3:30pm.

Please get back to me at your earliest convenience and let me know if
you'll be able to help me out!

Thanks so much.
Hope you're having a great day.
~Aeriel

ande3273@umn.edu
612.626.3324

Friday April 7, 2006
Bell Museum of Natural History
10 Church Street SE / Minneapolis MN 55455
7:00 PM

Tickets :
$15.00 per person
$25.00 per couple

Tickets may be purchased by contacting CASA
All proceeds go to the China Aids orphans Fund
Foraml Attire Recommended

* Hey it would be cool if we could get a bunch of VSAM members to go to this event *

In memory of Hai Ba Trung there will be an event sponsored by VCM and Bloomington Public School. It is at Kennedy High School at 2:30 PM on Saturday April 15th. Come support and have fun. I will be singing and dancing at the event.

Elections are coming up for next years board. It's a great opportunity to gain leadership experiences and help out VSAM. The following is an excerpt from the VSAM constitution. The election date is still yet to be determined. If you're interested in running for a position we will have a application out soon.


Section 1: Officer Integrity
1. Officers shall not use VSA money and/or property for his/her personal benefits.
2. Officers shall support other board members outside their primary area of responsibilities.
3. Officers shall consult the board immediately if he/ she is confused about one’s role.

Section 2: Officers’ Duties
The duties listed are primary area of responsibilities only, they are NOT EXCLUSIVE to any position. All are expected to serve outside the primary area when others are unable to serve.

1. President (1)
a. The President shall ensure that the organization operates in conformity with the principles set forth in this Constitution.
b. The President shall preside over general meetings and officer meetings.
c. The President shall set goals/agendas for the officers and for the organization.
d. The President shall delegate tasks and responsibilities.
e. The President shall serve as the official spokesperson for VSA.
f. The President shall ensure that activities and operations achieve the mission, goals, and objectives of VSA.
g. The President shall promote communication and coordination among officers and members.
h. The President shall have the right to break ties in administrative decisions.

2. Vice-President (1)
a. The Vice-President shall assist the President and assume his/her duties when the President is unable to serve temporarily.
b. The Vice-President shall monitor and inform the progress of activities, events, programs, and plans of club and school events.
c. The Vice-President shall write all written agendas of meetings.
d. The Vice-President shall promote internal relations among members. [E.g. promote friendly atmosphere, internal conflict solving…etc]

3. Secretary (1)
a. The Secretary shall maintain records and documents of VSA activities and programs.
b. The Secretary shall record and prepare written minutes of the meetings.
c. The Secretary shall update the VSA Constitution and Bylaws by the end of Spring Semester of the term.
d. The Secretary shall keep records of VSA members and be responsible for communicating to members via e-mail.
e. The Secretary shall reserve rooms for meetings.

4. Treasurer (1)
a. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the VSA financial account.
b. The Treasurer shall monitor and report VSA financial transactions to the Board on a monthly basis.
c. The Treasurer shall process payments of VSA liabilities and expenses in a timely manner.
d. The Treasurer shall safeguard all VSA properties and assets.
e. The Treasurer shall monitor and report any money promoted by fundraising activities.
f. The Treasurer shall be responsible for grant writing and fundraising projects.
g. The Treasurer shall be responsible for VSA inventory.

5. Public Relations Officer (3)
a. There shall be three (3) Public Relations Officers.
b. The Public Relations Officer shall promote VSA to prospective members.
c. The Public Relations Officer shall serve as a liaison between VSA and the public.
d. The Public Relations Officer shall assist the Activity Coordinator(s) to increase and maintain memberships.
e. The Public Relations Officer shall represent VSA at the Asian Student Union (ASU) meetings.
f. The Public Relations Officer shall serve as a liaison between VSA, ASU, the public, and any organization or group affiliated with VSA.

6. Historian (1)
a. The Historian shall keep a detailed record of activities and events VSA organizes.
b. The Historian shall create a scrapbook of the year’s event.
c. The Historian shall write a history chapter for the academic year.
1. [view example here: http://victoria.sinhvien.org.au/article.php3?id_article=110 ]

8. Webmaster (2)
a. There shall be two (2) Webmasters.
b. The Webmaster shall update the VSA website in a timely manner.
c. The Webmaster shall provide and moderate an on-line community for members to interact in which he/she will monitor and remove any violation of website rules and regulation.

9. Activities Coordinators (2)
a. There shall be two (2) Activities Coordinators.
b. The Activities Coordinators shall coordinate activities to promote friendship and collectivism among VSA members.
c. The Activities Coordinators shall head the Activities Committee and will be responsible for contacting its members and organizing committee meetings.
d. The Activities Coordinators and the Activities Committee shall propose event ideas, plan, and execute VSA’s activities with the help of other VSA members.
e. The Activities Coordinators are not necessarily TET Coordinators otherwise appointed and/ or elected but are required to assist in TET.

10. Education Chair (2)
a. There shall be two (2) Education Chairs
b. The Education Chair shall head the Education Committee.
c. The Education Chair and the Education Committee shall coordinate educational events regarding student life and/or the Vietnamese culture.
d. The Education Chair and the Education Committee shall monitor and promote the University’s Vietnamese Studies.

11. Compliance Officer (1)
a. The Compliance Officer shall act as the “lawyer” of VSA.
b. The Compliance Officer shall advise VSA regarding legal issues and ensure VSA acts accordingly to the VSA’s Constitution.
c. The Compliance Officer shall work with SAO regarding the University’s rules and regulations of student groups and University Student Legal Services regarding legal issues.
d. The Compliance Officer shall monitor board members’ commitment, integrity, and conducts.