The SSU Center for Pan Pacific Exchange

The Center for Pan Pacific Exchange at Sonoma State University facilitates a growing number of Sonoma State faculty and programs are developing teaching and research interests, and strong collegial relationships, in the nations and regions of the broader region of the Pacific, including Pacific Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, Indonesia, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Russian Siberia, as well as Pacific North America. It is a central premise of the Center that the Pacific forms a vital frame of reference for some of the most exciting, innovative, and influential work being done today across a number of disciplines and fields. Much of this work is experimental, does not conform to conventional academic or disciplinary categories, and therefore requires a different set of resources and support facilities to make it possible.

The individuals and programs involved range across the social and natural sciences, arts and humanities, business and economics, and education. Specific academic areas and programs affiliated currently include Anthropology, Criminal Justice Administration, Geography, History, Economics, Political Science, Sociology, Business, Communications, Foreign Languages, Theater Arts, Education, Mathematics, and Environmental Studies and Planning, as well as masters degree programs in Public Administration and Cultural Resources Management.

This range wide of individuals and programs share an orientation towards collaborative interdisciplinary and international exchange, and a commitment to involving students in pragmatic, real-world projects and learning experiences. The Pan Pacific Center supports any efforts at funding development, faculty exchange, information sharing, curriculum enhancement, or professional bridge-building that its affiliated faculty require, relating to the Pacific region.

We specialize in projects that involve coordinating between different institutions, whether academic or nonacademic, both within the United States and internationally. Past and current initiatives include hosting the annual conference of Pacific Coast Geographers (1995), an Indonesian eco-cultural tourism project involving student interns (1994 -present), a planned international conference on HIV public health and public policy issues around the Pacific (1997), a Mesoamerican archaeology field school on the Pacific coast of Guatemala (1994-present), and a project on Vietnamese educational system reform (ongoing). Future goals for the Center include establishing a policy for affiliating nonresident faculty, mounting a World-Wide-Web-based Pacific archive of exchangeable project materials and information, and providing an electronic and audio-visual platform for distance learning courses on Pacific-related issues and materials.