English graduate student wins dissertation fellowship from American Association of University Women

Kim Compoc

Kim Compoc, a doctoral candidate in the Department of English, has been selected to receive the prestigious American Association of University Women (AAUW) American Dissertation Fellowship for academic year 2016-17.  Founded in 1881, AAUW is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy and research. 

The $20,000 award will go a long way toward assisting Compoc to achieve her academic and professional goals. Her research interests include Filipin@ American studies, literature and colonialism, and feminist theory and American empire.  Her dissertation title is “(Im)perfect Allies: Decolonizing Hawaiʻi from a Filipino Perspective.” Compoc has been published in SPAN: Journal of the South Pacific Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies and is a contributor to Asian American Culture: From Anime to Tiger Moms.

In 2011, Compoc received a pre-doctoral Ford fellowship. Before starting graduate school, Compoc was active in a number of community-based organizations, including Maui Filipino Working Group, Talking Stories and Mediation Services of Maui. She is now active with Women’s Voices, Women Speak and Decolonial Pin@ys.  Most recently, Compoc received the first UHM College of Languages, Linguistics & Literature 2016 Excellence in Doctoral Dissertation Research Award.

Compoc, a Mānoa resident, is both honored and humbled by receiving the fellowship:  “I am grateful to have been selected for this fine award from an organization which I’ve long admired.  I hope that I can make AAUW and its members proud, and live up to the expectations of their generous investment in me.”

Languages, Linguistics & Literature Dean Jeffrey Carroll notes that Compoc’s achievement reflects the high standards that she sets for herself, as well as the high standards of the Department of English.  “The AAUW American Dissertation Fellowship is a meaningful acknowledgement of the stellar work of Kim Compoc and graduate students like her," said Carroll.  "Thank you, Kim, for bringing much distinction to your department and college.”

The College of Languages, Linguistics & Literature (one of the four Arts & Sciences colleges) of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa offers a broad curriculum in English, foreign and heritage languages and literatures, second language studies, and linguistics.  Its Asia and Pacific focused curricula is unique in the nation.  The faculty regularly teaches more than 25 languages, and has the capacity to teach many more.

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