Minority Fellowship Program Testimonials: David Takeuchi

I did not plan on an academic career. Graduating from high school was my goal. I cannot recall entertaining the idea of college during childhood and into my junior year of high school. I grew up in a family with limited resources. My father worked on the sugar and pineapple plantations in Hawai’i and spent his last 20 years toiling as a janitor. My mother waited tables and hustled tips as a barmaid during the late-night/early-morning hours. My father completed eighth grade, and my mother finished high school. During my senior year, I submitted six applications to colleges with little rationale except for my application to the local institution, the University of Hawai’i. I was accepted into all six colleges, including five on the West Coast. I chose not to leave Hawai’i because I did not think I was smart or capable enough to venture forth to colleges in the contiguous United States.

My first semester in college could have gone better. I earned a 1.2 grade point average and a stern warning that I would be placed on academic probation if my GPA did not rise above C-level. At the end of the second semester, my GPA did move, but not in the desired direction. A 0.6 was the final tally, which may have set a state record. True to its promise, the university placed me on academic probation. It is easy to identify the reasons for this underwhelming performance. I lacked the discipline, study habits, and social skills required to listen to lectures, engage in discussions with students and teachers, take tests, and write coherent papers. And I enjoyed too many beers on weeknights to regularly attend classes the next day.

During my probation year, I decided to go to George Williams College in Downers Grove, Illinois. During this year, I experienced race as part of my daily life. I became “pineapple” or “slant eyes.” I was asked, “where are your eyes?” “why’d you bomb Pearl Harbor?” and “why don’t you return to your country?” Most of the time, these questions or comments were said with laughter or smiles. I usually laughed them off; these statements initially meant nothing to me. Eventually, I became aware that the names separated me as different, an experience that was unlike any I had had in Hawai’i. I immersed myself in reading fiction and nonfiction works about race, especially those written by African American authors. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man was the singular piece that led to my “aha” moment. This novel stimulated my intellectual curiosity about race and captured my internal struggle to understand my experiences in Illinois.

I returned to the University of Hawai’i with a vengeance. I was fortunate that the university had a policy that if an “F” is received for a course grade and the course is retaken, the second letter grade replaces the failure. This policy did not apply to any other letter grade. I took full advantage of the policy, as I had failed several freshman-year courses. I was successful in receiving an “A” for all of these courses, and that dramatically boosted my GPA. I majored in sociology, with a focus on race and immigration. After receiving my bachelor’s degree, I was admitted to and enrolled in the university’s sociology PhD program.

I progressed through the PhD, meeting different program milestones along the way. Then, a personal crisis: I completed a draft dissertation prospectus on a health topic. One of my committee members sent the draft to a well-known medical sociologist to get his comments on my draft. This sociologist wrote a blistering critique of my prospectus. He concluded that if I were his student, he would suggest that I leave the PhD program. The committee member shared the letter with me, and I was devastated. Against the counsel of faculty members, I decided to take a leave from the PhD program. I was hurt, embarrassed, and too shattered to continue.

Opportunities can arise from personal setbacks. I spent the next seven years working on research studies in different communities. I honed my research skills and engaged with policymakers, activists, community organizations, and residents. I researched pressing community issues, including homelessness, housing shortages, tensions between racial groups, immigrant and refugee educational programs, and alternative programs to prisons and jails. I continued to read academic literature to apply contemporary social science theory to the social problems I studied.

During this time, I questioned whether I should return to finish my PhD I did not know whether I could complete a doctoral research project, and my early doubts weighed heavily on my mind. On a whim and with hope, I applied for the American Sociological Association’s Minority Fellowship Program. To my surprise, I received the fellowship. What affected me most wasn’t so much the funds from the fellowship but the validation that I could do a doctoral dissertation project. The MFP provided a boost for my studies at the right moment.

I received my PhD and worked for a year in the Vice President’s Office of Academic Affairs, researching under-represented groups in the University of Hawai’i system. Phil Leaf, a Yale University sociologist and an expert in health services research, was visiting the University of Hawai’i to meet with colleagues. During a conversation, he said his training program had a postdoctoral fellowship slot open. He asked if I would be interested in a postdoctoral fellowship on epidemiology and health services research. I was intrigued by the possibility— frightened but intrigued. After some discussion, my wife, Amy, agreed it would be an exciting adventure in New Haven. I still had no ambition to go into academia. Going to Yale for a two-year postdoc was another turning point. I learned how to write and assemble federal grant applications and develop and write papers. The intensive training immensely fortified my doctoral training, and I left Yale with valuable skills and professional networks that increased my ability to do independent research.

My research career has examined the unequal distribution of health and illness in society, particularly around race, immigration, and ethnicity. I have been the principal investigator on some extensive studies of different racial and ethnic groups, including the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS). I have published in various journals in sociology, public health, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, and health services. I received the Legacy Award from the Family Research Consortium for my research and mentoring, the Innovations Award from the National Center on Health and Health Disparities for my research contributions, the Leonard Pearlin Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Sociology of Mental Health, and the Distinguished Contributions to the Study of Asian Americans. More recently, I had the good fortune to receive the 2022 Inclusive Voices Award for representing diverse communities in research from the American Association of Public Opinion Research and the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award for Mental Health Services Research from the American Public Health Association.

To conclude, the MFP helped me find a career. I have been ever grateful.