As an area of study in American universities, Asian American Studies is surprisingly young. Many top universities like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Princeton and the like didn't even have one as recently as the late 1990s. This came as a shock to many Asian American students who could see that they were the largest minority group at such universities.

It was only after large numbers of Asian American studies took part in a series of demonstrations, hunger strikes, sit-ins and other forms of protest that many of these universities began taking steps to add Asian American Studies to their curricula. Still, many tried to minimize their importance and visibility by sneaking them in through the back door in the form of niches within "American Studies" or "East Asian Studies" departments.

The leaders in this area have been UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UCLA, all of which have had healthy Asian American Studies programs since the 1980s. That's one reason many of the most distinguished AAS professors can be found there. But even some UC campuses are surprisingly resistant to recognizing the subject. UC Irvine, which has a 58% Asian American representation in the student body, still doesn't have a full-fledged AAS department.

Who have been your favorite Asian American Studies professors?