Yung-Chen Lu, Ph.D.
Founder of Asian Festival (a cultural event in Columbus attracting over 180,000 yearly)
Ohio Asian American Pacific Islander Advisory Council Chair
Inductee of the 2016 Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame (the only Asian American over its 40 years of history)
Dr. Yung-Chen Lu is a professor emeritus of the mathematics department at The Ohio State University. During his tenure, he has received several teaching and service awards.
In the Asian community, Dr. Lu is deeply committed to his voluntary services. He joined the board of Chinese Associations of Central Ohio (1984) and was chair of the Columbus Chinese School (1988-89). He is founder and president of the Asian American Community Service Council (since 1994) and the founder and manager of the Asian Senior Meal program (since 1994). Also in 1994, Dr. Lu proposed the Columbus Asian Festival; he still cochairs what has become the largest Asian festival in the U.S. He also founded the Asian American Commerce Group (1993). He has been involved with several Asian American health and dental activities, including chairing the Advisory Board of the Asian Health Initiative (since 1996) and initiating and managing Asian Health Conferences (2002 and 2005, respectively). Dr. Lu has chaired the OAAPIAC since 2010.
Wider community contributions include membership in Charity Newsies (since 1991), LifeCare Alliance (six years), and the Central Ohio Breathing Association (two years). He also served as a chairperson on the Greater Columbus Events Council in 2007. He currently is a board member of the Central Ohio Diabetes Association and Greater Columbus Arts Council.
Dr. Lu’s volunteer work has been recognized by the Columbus Dispatch (Community Service Award, 2000), the Asian American Commerce Group (Community Service Award, 2000), the Organization of Chinese Americans (Community Leadership Award, 2006), the Ohio Commission on Minority Health(Community Leadership Award, 2009), the Ohio Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission (Governor’s Humanitarian Award, 2012), the Asian Leaders and Legends Gala (Asian Legend, 2012) and Medical Mutual (Most Outstanding Volunteer Award, 2013). In 2013, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Outstanding Volunteers.