By Denise Olson, UW-EC Integrated Marketing and Communications Department
When Charles Chou Vue – the first Hmong person to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire – retires from UW-EC next month, he will leave behind a legacy of perseverance, advocacy and support.
Vue, the associate director in the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), has been a longtime leader in university efforts around equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). He will retire on Jan. 14.
“I hope that I leave behind a legacy and a footprint that has opened the door of opportunity to many more students,” Vue said in a letter to OMA students.
“It has been a rewarding career to see students come to our precollege programs as middle and high school students, return to attend UW-EC – graduate, and then return to this campus for career opportunities. More than anything, I will miss the close relationships and time spent with students,” he wrote.
True to his focus on personal interaction and support, Vue also assured students that he will always be just an email away “if you need my help.”
Olga Diaz, who came to UW-EC in June as vice chancellor for EDI and student affairs, said she appreciates Vue’s long and dedicated career. She said she quickly learned just how influential he has been in UW-EC’s overall EDI goals.
“Charles has the soothing calm that comes with years of experience,” Diaz said. “I have enjoyed getting to know him and learning about his legacy of work supporting students. He knows I wish he would stay with us longer – he has certainly made a difference at UW-Eau Claire.”
Building trust
Since graduating from UW-EC in 1989, Vue has dedicated his career to building trust with people of color, particularly those of Southeast Asian heritage. His goal, he said, has been to create more inclusive spaces and to offer the kind of support and understanding that he himself needed
Dang Yang, now director of OMA, says his own success as a UW-Eau Claire student was due in part to advocacy and support from Vue, whom he calls his mentor.
“Time and again, Charles has said to me that my success is his success,” Yang said. “I am not the only success story that has come from Charles’ influence and support. He opened the door for so many of us, and he had the audacity to hold it open while we passed through. I thank him so much for that.”
A mission built on relationships
Vue said a passion and drive to “serve as a bridge” has been at the root of his career in student services.
His work has been a bridge in many ways:
- between campus and the community, helping Asian families, particularly those who identify as Hmong, navigate the complexities of higher education;
- between floundering students and the path to their academic success;
- and increasingly, a bridge between an American-born linguistically and culturally assimilated generation of Southeast Asian students and the opposing pulls of heritage, belonging and identity.
In becoming that multifaceted bridge, Vue said he has relied most heavily on his own student experience as a guide, remembering what he needed most – an advocate.
“Students today have different struggles than I had, but retaining students and seeing them through to graduation is still about helping all students to feel like they belong here, that we care if they succeed here,” Vue said.
Increased numbers
When Vue enrolled at UW-Eau Claire in 1984, he was one of only four Hmong students and one of only 132 students of color. Today the number of students identifying as Hmong is 142, and the overall number of students of color enrolled as undergraduates sits at 1,180.
Vue’s work has played a vital role in the rise in those numbers, especially in recruiting and retaining Hmong students. His outreach and volunteer work in the Chippewa Valley community, including his terms on the board of the Eau Claire Area School District, are among the ways in which his name recognition alone has helped to bring students to UW-EC.
Caitlin Mai Chong Lee, an equal opportunity specialist in the university’s Affirmative Action Office, has known and worked with Vue on campus and in the community for nearly 15 years. She knows firsthand how deep his impact has been and how sorely he will be missed.
“He is a trusted community liaison, a role that has institutionalized Charles not just at UW-EC, but also in the Hmong communities spread across the state,” Lee said.
“We have often heard over the years that parents allowed their children to come to UW-Eau Claire because they ‘trusted Charles’ and believed that he would be able to help their children navigate higher education and UW-Eau Claire successfully.”
Knowing how to establish that trust has been key to Vue’s successful career, and he attributes it, in part, to always remembering what is typical among college-age students.
“Every adult in the world was once this age, and they all had a lot to learn and would make mistakes along the way,” Vue said.
“I’ve tried to create an environment where students feel safe opening up to me, about their successes and their struggles. They won’t take my advice or ask for support in the future if they don’t believe I will understand their mistakes.”
Many initiatives, many students
When Vue joined the OMA staff in 1998, he assumed the role of Southeast Asian student services coordinator, providing supplemental counseling and advising for academic, personal, financial, cultural, career and interpersonal issues confronted by students. Since then, countless students have used OMA’s services, some just once or twice, and others more consistently for the duration of their time as Blugolds.
During his 22 years of working on campus, Vue has worn many hats in OMA and across campus. These include teaching Hmong language classes, taking part in EDI plan development and EDI faculty/staff training sessions and coordinating the annual Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month event series.
He has also mentored student research projects, led domestic and international cultural immersion trips and established and hosted an OMA graduation ceremony the night before commencement each semester.
Vue said he takes particular pride in establishing and directing the Youth Leadership Camp, and the positive influence the experience has had on many area youth. The camp introduces middle and high school youth to a college campus, helps them envision themselves at college and equips them with some of the skills needed to pursue higher education in their future.
“I started the camp in 2001, and for 20 years now it has successfully created a pipeline of students of color to a college future, many at UW-Eau Claire and others at different schools,” Vue said.
Vue’s theory is “like attracts like,” so he intentionally staffed the camps each summer with Hmong and other Southeast Asian students and staff.
“We have currently enrolled Hmong students and staff interacting with young people with the same background,” Vue said. “The whole idea is that if topics and discussions are relevant to the camp participants, then you suddenly have mentors, not just camp staff.”
Vue said over the years he has typically had a waitlist for his camps, even though similar camp programs have had trouble filling their enrollment goals because there are so many summer options to choose from.
A colleague’s view
Jodi Thesing-Ritter, EDI training coordinator at UW-Eau Claire, is an experienced youth camp director on campus and in the community who has long admired Vue’s efforts.
“Charles developed an incredible summer leadership development program that is a model for us to use to support summer learning for future Blugolds for generations to come.
“His programming has positively impacted so many K-12 students who have gone on to become Blugolds,” Thesing-Ritter said. “This legacy will continue to have a lasting impact.”
Many of the camp participants have gone on to be successful student leaders, especially at UW-Eau Claire, Vue said. He noted that nearly 90% of Blugolds who attended his camp have gone on to leadership roles in organizations like the Hmong Student Association (HSA).
“Hmong students at UW-Eau Claire need places where they can be together, lead each other, teach each other, and the HSA has a been a place like that.” Vue said. “The camp not only brings students to UW-EC but has created the leaders who later help other Hmong students thrive here.”
Yang said his own current directorship position serves as an example of that mentoring and leadership outcome.
“I served as a camp counselor for the Youth Leadership Camp that Charles developed, and I served as the president of the Hmong Student Association when Charles was the advisor,” Yang said. “As I graduated, Charles helped in my professional job search, and even as I started my career at UW-Stout, I relied on his mentorship to help me envision my professional trajectory.”
Seeing his students finish
Vue’s goal in attracting and retaining Southeast Asian students at UW-Eau Claire is to see them complete their degrees. As a way to make the celebrations around their accomplishments even more personal, Vue created the OMA graduation ceremony.
Each semester, the OMA event takes place the night before commencement. It offers all students of color a special moment to celebrate the milestone with fellow graduates, OMA personnel, other faculty and staff who supported them, and family members.
“Of all the students of color who graduate each semester, about half of them take part in this OMA event,” Vue said, noting that it has celebrated over 660 Hmong students and more than 1,000 total students over the years.
“I want to be there to celebrate all those students I’ve worked so hard to bring to UW-Eau Claire. I want them to remember that UW-Eau Claire was there for them from the beginning to the end,” he added.
As he moves on to the next phase in his life, Vue said he will continue to support Hmong students and families as he helps the greater Eau Claire community reach its goals for diversity and inclusion.
“When we all learn to see one another’s assets and potential contributions, to embrace those assets, we will be closer to those goals,” Vue said. “By sharing what we each have to offer, nobody ever gets less – we all just get more.”
Note: the home page photo was provided by UW-Eau Claire.