Hmong leader, educator; b. Xiengkhouang, Laos, June 5, 1971. Chia Vang is a pioneer in Hmong Studies in the state of Wisconsin and the first tenure-track Hmong faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She earned her BA at Gustavus Adolphus College in 1994, her MA at the University of Minnesota in 1996, and her PhD at the University of Minnesota in 2006. As Associate Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she developed the Hmong Diaspora Studies for the University of Wisconsin system in 2009. She is a member of the Hmong Cultural Center of Wisconsin board of directors and the Hmong American Peace Academy charter school. She received the Milwaukee Hmong Woman of the Year Award in 2010. Her publications include Hmong America: Reconstructing Community in Diaspora (University of Illinois Press, 2010) and Hmong in Minnesota (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2008).

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[Source: Submitted by Maly Xiong of Alverno College. Vang, Chia Y. Hmong America (University of Illinois Press, 2010); interview conducted by Maly A. Xiong]