The Asian Pacific American Studies Program was first founded by Dr. Andrea Louie in 2004. Prior to Dr. Louie's arrival in 1998, there had already been efforts to establish what would become the APA Studies program. Students had long been advocating for the establishment of such a program. Building on these efforts, Dr. Louie took the early steps of finding faculty on campus who were teaching relevant classes and then going through the process of creating a curriculum and getting it officially approved. An issue in the past that persists today is having a "critical mass" of available faculty to teach the classes of the APA Studies program. There are many faculty on campus doing work in the area of Asian Pacific American studies, but because they are tied to their specific departments, they are not always available to teach the classes of the APA Studies program. Listen to her talk more about how it all happened below.