Shorenstein APARC, 1990-1996

In the early nineties, the Northeast Asia-United States Forum on International Policy underwent a change of name and an expansion of its research focus and expertise. As a prelude to this growth, in 1990 the Forum moved from its original home in Galvez House to a cluster of temporary buildings while it awaited the renovation of Encina Hall, a former men’s dormitory.

In 1992 the Forum was rechristened as the Asia/Pacific Research Center, broadening its scope to include Southeast Asia (with the arrival of then-visiting professor Donald K. Emmerson in 1994) and to examine trends cutting across the entire Asia-Pacific region during a time when Asia had become the fastest-growing area in the world. Key projects on comparative health issues also got under way during this period, laying the foundation for today’s Asia Health Policy Program.

In 1994, Walter H. Shorenstein, already a sort of “patron saint” at A/PARC, pledged $1.5 million, enabling the commencement of key initiatives that today form the basis of many of the Center’s activities. One was a program to bring distinguished practitioners to the Center; the inaugural fellow was former U.S. ambassador to the Philippines and Japan, Michael H. Armacost, who remains an essential leader at the Center to this day. Another initiative was the funding of the Distinguished Lecture Series (later called the Shorenstein Forum), which hosted an array of distinguished speakers over the years, including renowned China historian Jonathan Spence and former U.S. secretary of state George P. Schultz.