SAIGON TEX NEWS: ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING PRESENTATION AND SPEECH AT UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS FOR WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL: VIETNAM'S SOUL THROUGH THE EYES OF A WOMAN

FROM THE SAIGON TEX NEWS, HOUSTON, JUNE 2006: 
This week is special for one of the many success stories from the Houston Vietnamese community as Professor Wendy Duong of the Strum College of Law at Denver University returns as part of the Quang Da Association of Dallas-Ft. Worth's two-day seminar at the Westin Galleria. Close to 1000 Vietnamese–Americans are expected. In addition to her legal work, the eclectic professor is both a singer and author.
Her legal career included serving as an Associate Municipal Judge and Magistrate for the State of Texas. In 1992, the ABA honored her as the first Vietnamese American judge in the U.S., among other pioneer minority women in the judiciary.
The Duong family escaped from Vietnam five days before the fall of Saigon via the airlift.
Duong moved to Houston from Illinois at age 19 and enrolled at the University of Houston Law School. She graduated in 1984. Prior to becoming a lawyer, she spent five years in public school education as the first Asian woman appointed by the Houston Independent School District (HISD) to an executive position at age of 24.
Her mother Tu Nguyen was a teacher of Vietnamese literature at Dong Khanh High School, Hue. Hr father is Dr. Nhu Duc Duong, former professor of linguistics at the Faculty of Letters, Saigon. He retired after teaching school in America. Her brother, John Duong, is a former Assistant D.A. and a local criminal defense attorney.
    As the HISD’s Risk Management Executive Director (1980-84), she was instrumental in implementing public awareness programs and the removal and abatement of asbestos from school buildings in accordance with EPA mandates. She also taught business communications in adult education programs jointly sponsored by HISD and Houston Community College.
    Prior to her teaching position in Denver, Duong spent 18 years in such positions as Special Trial Attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of General Counsel, and as Senior Legal Advisor for Mobil-Asia Pacific. In 1998 and 1999, she supervised a team of lawyers reviewing Y2K liability exposure for all international facilities of a Texas-based multi-national energy company.
She received her LLM from Harvard Law School.
Duong has a very busy week planned in Houston with literary readings and a concert of selected arias and ballads sung in Latin, Italian, French, English, and Vietnamese.
She will read from her historical novel "Daughters of the River Huong" and her bilingual poetry collection, "Love, Life and Exile."
The program begins Saturday at 12:45 PM in the Monarch Room at the Westin Galleria Hotel, 5060 West Alabama.
On June 1st, Duong will give a program entitled "Vietnam’s Soul through the Eyes of a Woman." She will discuss the journey she has taken and the delicate balance she has found in combining a career and a passion: law and art. A special presentation on human trafficking in Southeast Asia will introduce the audience to this global issue, and to her current research and advocacy project at the University of Denver.  The program will be given at the University of St. Thomas, Malloy Building, Room 013, 800 Montrose Blvd. Registration is at 6:00 PM and the hour long program begins at 6:30.