Founded in 1986, CAPS was launched as a university-wide interfaculty initiative to provide a knowledge exchange platform on campus for faculty, students, as well as all other professionals interested in or engaged with the study of Asia. Generous endowment gifts from E&M Charities and the Stanley family of Muscatine provided vital support for its establishment. Today, CAPS is the University of Iowa’s academic gateway to the Asia Pacific. It initiates and promotes innovative research projects and teaching programs on the region, coordinates all Asia-related activities at the university, and promotes dialogues about the region through public programs which engage partners in Asia as well as institutions from all over the world.It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the Center for Asian Pacific Studies (CAPS) at the University of Iowa.

Major gifts from the Stanley Family Foundation, Korean Foundation (Seoul), Hua Hsia Foundation (Taipei), Japan Foundation (Tokyo), Freeman Foundation of Stowe (Vermont), and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia have accelerated CAPS’ growth over the last three decades. Support from these gifts has generated three endowed professorships in Asian, Korean, and Chinese studies, enabled the hiring of other faculty and staff, and supported many workshops as well as education, study abroad, and outreach programs.

Recognizing that Asia and the major developments evolving from this continent would have implications the world over, CAPS sets its sights to foster collaboration in knowledge development in and with Asia, within a globally connected world. Our current mission – building on the strong leadership of a series of trailblazing directors – is creating a hub for movements of peoples and ideas to share knowledge on Asia and to advance teaching and research collaboration that transcend all boundaries for a new dynamism in our understanding of present-day Asian realities.

Join us! Contact our associate director, Dongwang Liu, at dongwang-liu@uiowa.edu to be put on the CAPS email list. You will then be assured of receiving all updates on our programs and events. I look forward to meeting you soon.