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Chico State

Diversity Fellow Finds Niche in AAPI Politics

Edward Berdan smiles and leans against a wall.
Photos courtesy of Edward Berdan

Story by Lorie Parch

Edward Berdan is feeling lucky.

Lucky to have recently received the prestigious American Political Science Association (APSA) Diversity Fellowship. Lucky to be a graduate student at Chico State, from which he’ll soon graduate with a master’s in political science. Lucky to have just learned he’s been accepted into UCLA’s PhD program.

But Berdan, who is Filipino-American, counts himself most fortunate to be able to do work that will help raise the profile of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).

“AAPI aren’t usually represented heavily in the [political science] profession because the topic of AAPI politics isn’t heavily researched,” he notes. “When it comes to race and ethnic politics, you hear about the Black community, the Asian community as a whole, and the Latino community. But the problem is that the Asian community is not monolithic.”

Berdan has already started working to correct the dearth of research in AAPI politics. As an undergraduate at Fresno State, the political science and economics student got his first taste of conducting quantitative research. By the time he came to Chico State for graduate work, he knew what he wanted to pursue and where.

“I made a conscious effort to stay at the CSU—I wanted to stay at a public institution,” Berdan said. “Professors at public institutions tend to understand better the challenges that underrepresented students face.”

Combining work as a graduate student, researcher, and teaching associate since arriving at Chico in 2018, Berdan has grown in every way.

“At Fresno, I found my footing, but Chico is where I found my academic voice,” he says. “[In graduate school,] there’s a shift from the passive voice to the active voice. You don’t say, ‘I believe…’ You say, ‘This is happening, and here’s the evidence to support that point.’ I stepped into the limelight of race and ethnicity politics to say ‘This is important and here is why.’”

Berdan is quick to credit Lori Weber, the Chico State professor who taught his graduate seminar in research methods, for validating and encouraging his research topic from the start. She says her student always had it in him.

“His intellectual confidence now matches his curiosity,” she said. “Edward is very quiet and unassuming, so I think the power of his intellect could be easily overlooked.”

Just as important, she said, Berdan has never been one to throw in the towel, no matter how tough the challenge.

“If he finds something difficult or feels confused about it, he continues to work at it. He really stands out for his ability to persevere even if things don’t come easily to him.”

Edward Berdan poses against a brick stairwell.
Berdan made an immediate impression on his faculty for his passion for his studies and dedication to his research interest.

Berdan didn’t always know he’d be an academic superstar, or even that college was in his future. Growing up in Lemoore, California, he and his siblings were raised by their mother, Mary Jane, who’d emigrated from the Philippines to the United States while still in elementary school. She had struggled to learn English and made sure her four children would not do the same. But by assimilating into American life, Berdan felt he’d lost a deeper understanding of the Filipino-American community. Right after high school, he floundered, figuring out what he wanted to do next.

“One of the things that came to mind is that I really wanted to connect with my community,” he remembers.

He knew that to get a good job he’d need more education. But by his junior year at Fresno State, he was still undecided on his major. He asked his sister for advice, and she said, “you’re always talking about politics.”

From there, things started to click. As he began studying political science, he noticed AAPI communities weren’t represented in research about voter preference and political participation.

“Chinese-Americans may have different political behaviors than Korean-Americans, who are different from Filipino-Americans,” he said. “I want to contribute to a more nuanced picture of the AAPI community, starting with my own community.”

Berdan’s passion for equitable representation led him to apply for the APSA Diversity Fellowship, which Weber describes as “very competitive.” He hopes to use doors opened by the fellowship to launch joint research with other APSA Fellows across the country and support his journey to a PhD.

Hoping to become a professor at a public university, Berdan has also volunteered as a presenter on immigration at the Women’s March and interned for the California Democratic Party.

“For me, academics and activism go hand-in-hand,” he says. “Academics can’t operate in a vacuum. You have to consider all real-world events and augment the way we view political science based on observations in the real world.”

And at Chico State, he found the support he needed. Calling it “a blooming moment,” he said his graduate program and professors affirmed his research topic was valid and networked him with scholars in the field to get him to his PhD program, ultimately seeing himself through new eyes.

“As a TA, you establish camaraderie [with your professors] and realize you’re no longer a student anymore—you’re a fellow scholar. It means the world for someone who’s struggled to justify that Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders are worthy of study in the political science community,” he said.

“I hope my academic work highlights communities that are usually not talked about,” he continued. “If that means I create data that influences a piece of legislation that helps that community, I feel like I’ve done my work.”


Lorie Parch has been a journalist and editor for 30 years. For the last five years, she has been covering higher education, with a special focus on the California State University system.