Introduction
The Asian American/Asian Research Institute (AAARI) was established on November 19, 2001, by the City University of New York Board of Trustees, in a resolution introduced by Chancellor Matthew Goldstein.

The Institute is a university-wide scholarly research and resource center that focuses on policies and issues that affect Asians and Asian Americans. It covers four areas: Asian American Studies, East Asian Studies, South Asian Studies and Trade and Technology Studies.

The City University of New York (CUNY) with twenty campuses city-wide, is rich in faculty who have expertise in Asian and Asian American studies. Each year CUNY enrolls over 31,000 Asian American students, who will soon emerge as a vital segment of New York City's workforce and leadership.

Mission
AAARI aims to achieve the following:

• To become an Asian intellectual and cultural center that addresses the needs of New York's diverse ethnic subgroups of Asian origin

• To stimulate the study of Asian people, languages, cultures, and countries as well as Asian immigrants and their descendants who live in the United States

• To bring together a community of scholars and channel their scholarship and research energies on Asia and the Asian American experience

• To identify timely issues that affect the Asian and Asian American communities

• To conduct scholarly, non-political, and unbiased studies on policy goals and community concerns

• To disseminate its research results and educate the public about Asian and Asian American issues

Accomplishments
Since its formation, with minimal funding and a skeletal office, AAARI has achieved the following:

• Established a weekly public lecture series
   
• Produced major conferences on Asian American Leadership: Healing and Rebuilding New York after 9/11; Asian American Education: Challenges and Perspectives; South Asians in the U.S.; Asian American / Asian Students: Aspects of Social Interaction; Global Entrepreneurship: Economic Development for Asia and the U.S.; Korean Americans; South Asians and the Diaspora; and The Well-Being of Asian American Senior Citizens
   
• Produced the CUNY Bulletin of Asian American / Asian Affairs: Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
   
• Produced a website featuring live webcasting, streaming video, and podcast audio of events; instant messaging and peer-to-peer voice service for live interaction during events or online assistance
   
• Provided funding for research proposals by six CUNY faculty members
   
• Offered a non-credit course on Vietnamese Language and Culture; and workshops on Chinese Calligraphy & Painting; Asian American Cinema; Tai Chi; a training program for webcast and webpage design for CUNY affiliates; Evolution of Chinese Cinema, Introduction to Mandarin-Chinese Conversation; and Asian Civilizations: Exploration of the Chinese Mind; Learning Integrated Mandarin Chinese; and Learning Cantonese Chinese
   
• Received a grant from the Verizon Foundation to establish the "Community / Academia Hi-Tech Bridge Workshop"
   
• Received a Diversity Grant from CUNY to establish the "Chinatown in the 21st Century" workshop
   
• Compiled a directory of Asian faculty and staff within CUNY
   
• Sponsored a CUNY-wide Student Essay Competition
   
• Produced a CUNY-wide Asian American Film / Media Festival
   
• Produced a CUNY-wide Asian American Dance Festival
   
• Established a speakers bureau in response to the tsunami disaster in South Asia

Plans for the Future
We envision the Asian American / Asian Research Institute to be a financially well-endowed organization, supported by the New York State and City legislature, as a respected authority regionally, nationally, and internationally on issues concerning Asia, and the Asian American community. It will be a non-partisan research institution and a pan-Asian intellectual and cultural center that addresses the needs of New York's diverse subgroups of Asian origin. The Institute will become a bridge between the City University of New York, and the Asian American community.

• Set up a media production and print publication center
   
• Initiate a fund raising program to sustain the growth of the Institute
   
• Provide support to research fellows
   
• House a library and a core collection of archival materials
   
• Establish an exhibition hall