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Dr. Theodore Hsi-en Chen (1902-1991): Chinese American Education Pioneer and Founder of East Asian Studies at USC

Dr. Theodore Hsi-en Chen’s Legacy to the USC and the Community

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Dr. Chen's community leadership helped build and strengthen the Chinese American community in the greater Los Angeles area and its global connections. He was the founding President of the "Chinese Collegiate Colleagues of Southern California" (CCCSC) when it was first established in 1969. Five years later, CCCSC was renamed as the current "Chinese American Faculty Association (CAFA) of Southern California."
Dr. Chen and his wife had financially supported students from Taiwan to study at USC 1969-1973 and they established the Theodore and Wen-Hui Chen Fellowship (aka Chen Fmaily Fellowship and Chen Fellowship) in 1991, one of the most competitive USC Graduate School Endowed Fellowships, to assist Chinese students interested in pursuing graduate studies at USC. Since its inception, the Chen Fellowship has benefited over sixty Chinese students.
In his later years Dr. Chen focused on building USC’s East Asian collections. He donated his personal library of over 2,500 volumes of Chinese books to the USC Libraries in the 1970s, which became one of the foundational collections of the current East Asian Library. He and his wife also made several contributions to the library fund for East Asian materials during the 1970s and 1980s. Dr. Chen's family donated his personal papers to the USC Libraries, which includes invaluable materials such as newspaper clippings, administrative notes, and academic publications that document his groundbreaking contributions and legacy. In early 2022, a new endowment in his name was established at USC to honor and continue his legacy of library support.