Beginnings

ITASA's story began on July 15th, 1990, when an ambitious group of second generation Taiwanese Americans was selected at a Taiwanese American Conference (TAC) conference to start an intercollegiate Taiwanese Council. Members of this group nicknamed themselves "seeds", mainly to reflect their aim to organically grow the Taiwanese American community through a collegiate network.

These "seeds" would reconvene in spring of 1991 at Columbia University to discuss the formation of this new organization. Around 20 people, representing Harvard, Columbia, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Smith College, Rutgers, and NYU, sat in a room together, and for 3 days, they hammered out the purpose and goals of what would become ITASA. Their names include Tim Ch'ng, Morris Tsai, Rolla Ch'ng, Ula Hwang, Peilan Chiu, Cindy Yeh, Felicia Lin, and Winston Yang.

Though our organization didn't settle on an official name until 1993, the acronym ITASA traces back to 1992, when Brown University held the first "ITASA Cultural Conference" for universities in the region. 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 these conferences varied in name and location, they involved that same group of college students—a passionate core of Taiwanese Americans who wanted to reach, connect, and grow a community of like-minded people. With these events, they sought to not only establish the foundations for this new network, but also increase society's understanding of Taiwan and Taiwanese issues, as well as to promote the importance of identity, leadership, support, and non-political affiliation. The original tenets of their vision are core values at ITASA and still guide our operations today.

To Incorporation

At our inception, ITASA conferences were financed out of student pockets, and attendance generally numbered around 35 people. Only 10 years later, began to consistently invite that many speakers at each conference, and every year, we saw students coming in the hundreds to our events from coast to coast. On February 17, 1998, ITASA was formally incorporated as a 501(c) (3) cultural tax-exempt nonprofit corporation in Delaware, by Incorporator Kokui Lim.

From a group of veteran officers, the Board of Directors emerged and took charge. 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.

Our first Annual Leadership Retreat was held in 1999 at the University of Pennsylvania. The next year, the Leadership Retreat Program was expanded to include Midwest and West Coast Leadership Retreats, the first of which took place at Northwestern University and Pomona College, respectively. The original agenda was composed of three parts: group leadership exercises, Taiwanese American leadership, and the Future. In later years, the Leadership Pit became a trademark activity of the Leadership Retreats, as have a range of group games.

And Beyond

ITASA is an ever-changing organization, constantly redefining itself to adapt to the needs of the greater intercollegiate community. In line with its commitment to serve the greater good, ITASA launched its newest department, Philanthropy, in 2010. The philanthropy department is charged with the task of creating new ways for ITASA to give back to its community. As ITASA enters another year of connecting and empowering the Taiwanese American community, our board looks to continue our growth, and we look forward to improving on our existing events while introducing exciting new programs to benefit the Taiwanese American college organizations and intercollegiate community that we serve.

Learn More

Read this TaiwaneseAmerican.org feature about ITASA - Inspire, Empower, and Activate: ITASA’s “Coming of Age”

Schools that have held conferences