Originally from the culturally rich Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, Dr. Thuy Vo Dang came to the United States as a child refugee. She earned a PhD and MA in ethnic studies from the University of California, San Diego, and now serves on the faculty of UCLA's Information Studies Department, training future educators, curators, librarians, and archivists, and advancing her research on the Vietnamese diaspora. She previously served as a research librarian for Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and a curator for the UCI Libraries Southeast Asian Archive.

A gifted oral historian, Thuy finds immense purpose in preserving the stories and amplifying the voices of those on the margins of history. She was recognized by OC Weekly as “the Studs Terkel of Little Saigon” in 2013 and helped develop an oral history toolkit to empower communities to document their own stories. She has co-authored the book, Vietnamese in Orange County as well as an alternative history and guide to Orange County, and is an active advocate for the arts, serving on boards for various Orange County arts organizations. Thuy loves riding her Vespa around town, hiking, and eating, and—with humility and perseverance—she is currently learning to play the piano alongside her children.