1. SUMMER 2015 • BEHOLD MAGAZINE 33
D
r. Aprilfaye Manalang says she
didn’t always know that she was
going to teach, but her mother saw
a light in her that caused her
mother to believe that teaching
would be her path.
“Somehow she always knew that I should
teach,” says Dr. Manalang, a first-year member
of NSU’s Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.
She joined NSU last fall after completing her
Ph.D. at Bowling Green State University. Her
areas of expertise are American studies with a
focus on race relations and religion.
“I have always been fascinated with learning
about people and their lives,” she says, explaining
her chosen field of interest. “In interdisciplinary
studies, we look at many aspects that affect
peoples’ lives, including politics, religion,
economics and history.”
The bubbly, enthusiastic young woman grew
up in a military family in southern Italy and
Hampton Roads but has Filipino roots. Hampton
Roads has the largest Filipino community on the
East Coast, and Virginia is the ninth largest
Filipino populated state with 47,609.
Her multi-cultural background has had a
strong impact on her research and interest in
teaching. For her dissertation, she studied the role
of Filipino immigrants’ religion and ethnicity in
shaping public life. “I wanted to know, how does
God tell me to be an American citizen? Religion
plays a strong organizing role. Immigrants bring
their cultural traditions with them into this
country. It’s a way of preserving their culture and
remembering their community.”
Dr. Manalang has continued her research since
she arrived at NSU. She won a $2,000-grant from
the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities for her
local community history project, “The Role of the
Black Church and Norfolk State University in the
Civil Rights Movement in Norfolk, Virginia,”
which included a panel discussion of civil rights
activists that was broadcast on WHRO.
NSU nominated her white paper on the local
Filipino community for the National Endowment
for the Humanities (NEH) Bridging Cultures
grant. This spring she spoke at Old Dominion
University and Virginia Wesleyan College about
her ongoing research on the Hampton Roads
Filipino-American community.
As important as her research is to her,
Dr.Manalang says her heart is with her students.
“I love my students,” she says. “My students are
what makes me happy in life. They have so much
passion. They are young and ambitious. It’s an
honor and a privilege to be here with them in the
classroom. I’m deeply invested in my students.”
Her students feel the same way about her.
Students in her three first-semester classes
organized, raised funds and presented her with
an “outstanding professor award”– a plaque to
recognize her for outstanding teaching and
mentoring. In addition, she received almost
a 4.0 in student evaluations.
“She is very giving of her knowledge,
and her students appreciate her energetic,
charismatic personality,” says Dr. Manalang’s
supervisor, Dr. Khadijah Miller, chair of the
Department of History and Interdisciplinary
Studies. Dr. Miller says she has not known of
another time when students have recognized their
professor in such a manner. “She was willing to
roll up her sleeves and jump right in, and that was
one of the things that drew us to her.”
Dr. Manalang says she is excited about
continuing her research, writing a book and
working with NSU students. “I’m a pretty
simple person. I want to be a good human being.
I want to help craft a better society. It’s not about
me; it’s about shedding light on what it means to
be an American.”
New Professor Brings Expertise
About Filipino Community to CampusBy GAIL KENT
“My Students
Are What Makes
Me Happy in Life.”
– Dr. Aprilfaye Manalang
Dr. Aprilfaye Manalang (center) is surrounded by her students. Photo by DèQuan Moss