The early days of the program can be dated to around 2003. Key events that happened during that time included the 20th year Reunion of the Asian Pacific American Student Organization. You can also learn more about the early days of the program from an oral history interview with Dr. Andrea Louie.

Click on the thumbnail for the 20th year Reunion of the Asian Pacific American Student Organization to take a learn more about APASO highlights since 1982, as well as some of the celebration activities that took place in honor of the 20th year celebration of the organization.

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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.