Award Honors Older Graduate
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Robert Nghiem Nguyen, a former high-ranking official in Vietnam’s Ministry for Development of Ethnic Minorities, has been named this year’s “Continuing Learning Experience Award” recipient at Cal State Fullerton.
The award is given each year to one of the oldest graduates distinguished by scholastic achievement.
Nguyen, 68, lives in Orange. He hopes to work with minority communities to contribute to the peaceful development of American society, he said.
Nguyen first examined minority issues in the United States in 1967, when he was invited for a two-month stay by the U.S. Department of State to study ethnic minority problems. He currently is a volunteer for the Orange County Human Relations Commission. He is pursuing a master’s degree in anthropology.
“My goal is to contribute my part to this country,” Nguyen said, “and to promote a better understanding of the Montagnard people [mountain tribes of Central Highlands] of Vietnam and the diverse citizens of this country.”
COMPILED BY LINN GROVES and MIMI KO CRUZ.
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