Oral history interview with Vina T. Tran, 2014

Biographical Note

Vina Tran worked as an administrator in IRWGS from 2005 though 2014. She has a BA in Journalism, with a minor in Women's Studies, from Penn State University and an MA from the University of Manchester, England in Gender, Sexuality, and Cultural Studies. Her MA research was on gender and film in Vietnam. She came to IRWAG as an administrative assistant after receiving her MA. She played an integral role in managing day-to-day logistics of the Institute, planning and advertising events, and increasing the web presence of IRWAG. In 2011, Vina moved to the Columbia Law School to work as the Assistant Director at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law. She returned to IRWAG in the fall of 2012 to serve as the Finance Manager and CSSD Program Manager. Vina left IRWGS in the summer of 2014 after the director, Alondra Nelson, took on a new position as the Dean of Social Sciences. Vina followed Alondra, and as of 2015 works in the Administrative Office of the Executive Vice President

Scope and Contents

In this interview Vina Tran discusses her experience at IRWGS and the institute's relationship with other centers and departments. Tran addresses her personal intellectual development while at IRWGS by describing her dual role as a student and employee. Tran also discusses the ways in which IRWGS responded to the shifting reliance on technology and the internet and her personal role in that transition. Tran talks about her desire to pursue more activist work and her subsequent move to Katherine Franke's Center for Gender and Sexuality Law. Tran then addresses the relationship between the Columbia Law School and IRWGS and the differences she noticed after having worked within both organizations. Tran returned to IRWGS in 2012 (drawn by the new initiative Women Creating Change through the Center for the Study of Social Difference) and explains how she played an active role in the collaborative budgeting process for the institute. In 2014, Tran followed Dean of Social Sciences Alondra Nelson to the Administrative Office of the Executive Vice President. She discusses how her work, even apart from IRWGS, continues to make sure that certain voices are heard

Subjects

• Columbia University. Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
• Columbia University. School of Law.
• Education, Higher--Effect of technological innovations on--United States.
• Freeman, Mary T., interviewer.
• Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Tran, Vina--Interviews.
• Universities and colleges--United States--Administration.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2014