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The Center for Asian Studies Advisory Council (CASAC) is moving forward with renewed enthusiasm and engagement to help the Center achieve its financial and academic goals and to help provide a forum for robust discussion on Asia.

Call to Action. We have successfully recruited several new Advisory Council members from the broader community over the last few years and would like to recruit at least two more members who can bring time, talent, and treasury to deepen the engagement of the Center with the community. Each new member would bring specific skills and ideas, global and Asian perspectives, and deep networks. If you’re interested in applying to be a member of the Advisory Council, please contact CAS Executive Director Danielle Rocheleau Salaz (salaz@colorado.edu).

Structure: The Advisory Council members serve on specific committees:

• Fundraising: including attracting new donors and creating new fundraising approaches
• Advocacy, Community Outreach, and Public Relations: finding new ways to deepen community reach, engaging interesting speakers from Asia through the Speaker Series, and one-on-one interaction with the speakers at soirees hosted in elegant homes – post COVID-19.
• Partnerships and Alliances: building relationships with other universities – both in Colorado and across the US, partnering with Asian consulates and embassies, working with Sister City programs that interact with specific Asian countries.

Why Asia Matters: Given the complexities and global isolation of 2020, there has never been a more pressing time to understand the Asian region and each country’s strategic and economic relevance to the US. CU students, who can become national and global leaders and decision makers, benefit from a deeper understanding of Asia. Some examples:

• China just took over as the #1 trading partner of the European Union from the US. What’s the impact for longer-term US global economic dominance?
• China’s military dominance and deep in-roads into the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka are of concern for neighbors. And the US?
• Myanmar: democracy, civil rights and human rights are at risk. Cross-border implications?
• India: Will and should India play a more significant role in US foreign policy, given the Chinese dynamic with the US and its encroachment into Indian territory? 

The members of the Advisory Council are very impressed with how the Center has grown in the last few years. If you’re interested in Asia, get involved and play a role in the Center’s continued and international success. Impact Matters.

Boli Medappa
CASAC Co-Chair

We Need You!

The global pandemic has laid bare the ways that the future depends on worldwide collaboration to address common challenges. CAS works every day to expand access to information and understanding about Asia and its diversity for students, faculty members, and the broader community. We can interrupt the cycle of fear and distrust through education and engagement. Help us expand our impact with support to one of the following funds.

• Contributions to the  allow us to provide student scholarship support, support curricular innovations such as the CLAC program, build capacity among CU Boulder faculty through research and professional development offerings, and host programming such as the annual Asia Symposium.
• Contributions to the  will provide program development funds and scholarships to offset costs for our summer internship students working in China and Japan. 
• The endowed  provides annual disbursements to the Asian Studies Advancement Fund. Contributors wishing to support the CAS mission in a more sustaining way can donate to help build this fund.

Donations can be made by clicking the links above. If you would like to discuss other giving options or ideas, please contact Danielle Rocheleau Salaz at salaz@colorado.edu. Thank you for your support!

Asian Studies Leadership Circle

The Asian Studies Leadership Circle is comprised of community supporters who donated $1000 or more to CAS over calendar year 2020. We are so grateful to these donors for helping us carry out Asia-related activities that benefit our students, faculty, and members of the broader community.

• France Addington-Lee, Chair, Global Committee for the Denver Metro Board of Realtors, and CASAC Member 
• Lawrence Bell, Senior Advisor to StudyColorado and CASAC Member
• Dennis McGilvray, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at CU Boulder and CASAC Member
• Laurel Rasplica Rodd, Professor Emerita of Japanese at CU Boulder and CASAC Member, and Greg Rodd
• George Taylor, CASAC Member, and Beth Ann Taylor
• Tang Family Foundation
• Christopher Yager, Founder of Where There Be Dragons and CASAC Member