The College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Department of History; and Asian Studies Program hosted the 45th Annual Meeting of the Southwest Conference on Asian Studies (SWCAS) at UIW, Oct. 14-15. While San Antonio has been the venue of this conference several times before, this was the first time UIW was host to the conference. The president and local chair of the 45th Annual SWCAS meeting was Dr. Lopita Nath, associate professor and chair of history and coordinator of the Asian Studies Program at UIW.
The two-day conference was attended by 100 participants from universities and colleges around the U.S., as well as from Canada, Spain, India, Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan. Conference presentations focused on a variety of topics including Asian history, literature, art, and politics among others. There were 60 presenters presenting at 19 panels. UIW was represented by its own faculty and students as well. The 20 UIW student volunteers at the conference not only helped out with the many tasks, but attended the sessions and received the full experience of an academic conference.
On Oct. 14, UIW hosted the dinner and keynote speaker at the McCombs Center Rosenberg Sky Room. The keynote speaker was Ambassador Sichan Siv, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, White House, and State Department deputy assistant. He is also a former refugee from Cambodia and is the author of the bestselling memoir “Golden Bones.” Siv spoke about his journey from the conflict in Cambodia to the United States and his role as an ambassador.
