Brief History of ITASA

From a Private Startup...

During a Taiwanese American Conference (TAC) conference on July 15th, 1990, a group of second generation Taiwanese Americans was identified to start an intercollegiate Taiwanese Council. They nicknamed themselves "seeds", a term used as the agents to organically grow the Taiwanese community including a Taiwanese American Collegiate Network. They would reconvene in spring of 1991. A small group of around 20 people representing Harvard, Columbia, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Smith College, Rutgers, and NYU converged on the campuses of Columbia University for 3 days, hammering out the purpose and goals of this intercollegiate organization. Among those who attended can be attributed to be the founding fathers of ITASA. Some names include Tim Ch'ng, Morris Tsai, Rolla Ch’ng, Ula Hwang, Peilan Chiu, Cindy Yeh, Felicia Lin, and Winston Yang. The ITASA name, officially, is traceable back to 1992, when the first “ITASA Cultural Conference” was held at Brown University. Over the next year, similar conferences were held with various names, including the ITASA/TASC Cultural Conference at the University of Illinois, ITSA at University of Pennsylvania, and TASCon at the University of Illinois again. Though varying in name and location, these conferences involved the same group of college students—a group of Taiwanese American students who wanted to grow and reach a community of like- minded individuals. Their focus was on identity, community, leadership, support, and non-political affiliation, while promoting understanding of Taiwan and Taiwanese issues, all of which still remain as integral parts of the mission statement and corollary. The very first official ITASA conferences were held in the spring of 1993, one on the East Coast at Yale, and one in the Midwest at Purdue. From then on, ITASA held conferences annually on the East Coast and the Midwest, and in 1999, the first annual West Coast Conference took place. at Berkeley, thus completing the three-region conference series that continues today.

To a National Corporation...

Back in the day, ITASA conferences were financed out of students’ own pockets, and attendance was in the range of 35 people. Only about 10 years later, that number estimates our speakers per conference, and we see students coming in the hundreds from coast to coast. Sure, students are getting better and better at throwing large events. But what underlies the continuity of the ITASA trademark across both time and the nation is the Organization. On February 17, 1998, ITASA was formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) religious/cultural tax-exempt nonprofit corporation in Delaware, by Incorporator Kokui Lim. From then on, the Board of Directors emerged from a group of veteran officers, and new officers emerged from the conference leaders. In 2003, Governor-led Regional Boards were established, replacing the single Regional Representative in each region, and District Chairs took charge over the Districts, which were subdivided from the Regions. In 2006, District Chairs, along with being in charge of Districts, also were given the choice of also being an Assistant to a National Director, making each Department an actual team of working individuals. More Programs The first Annual Leadership Retreat was the 1999 East Coast Leadership Retreat at the University of Pennsylvania. The next year, the Leadership Retreat Program was expanded to include the Midwest and West Coast Leadership Retreat, the first of which took place at Northwestern University and Pomona College, respectively. The original agenda was composed of three parts: leadership & teamwork exercises, Taiwanese American leadership, and the Future. In later years, the Leadership Pit became atrademark activity of the Leadership Retreats, as have a range of group games.

Schools that have held conferences

Brown University: 1992, 1996, 2000
Columbia University: 2003
Cornell University: 1997
Harvard University: 1995, 1998 (BITSA), 1999 (BITSA), 2002, 2007
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 2000 (BITSA), 2002 (BITSA)
New York University (New York City): 2006
Northwestern University: 1996, 2000, 2005, 2008
Princeton University: 1994, 1998
Purdue University: 1993
Rutgers University: 2005
Stanford University: 2000, 2004, 2007
Tufts University: 2003 (BITSA)
University of California, Berkeley: 1999
University of California, Los Angeles: 2001, 2006
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: 1992 (ITASA/TASC, TASCON), 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006
University of Michigan: 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007
University of Pennsylvania: 1992 (ITSA), 2001, 2008
University of Southern California: 2002, 2005
University of Washington: 2003
University of Western Ontario: 1993(ITASA/CAN)
Wellesley College: 2001 (BITSA)
Yale University: 1993, 1999, 2004

BITSA (Boston Intercollegiate Taiwanese Students Association)

ITASA’s sister organization, BITSA, was conceived in 1997 through the efforts of a few Taiwanese students from Harvard, MIT and Tufts to better e xplore issues of Taiwanese and Taiwanese American identity. Through BITSA, the Taiwanese American organizations of Harvard, MIT and Tufts were able to better network and coordinate events, helping each other and helping the greater Taiwanese community in Boston. Since 1997, BITSA has grown to include Taiwanese Students organizations from Boston University, Boston College, Wellesley, and Brown.