I had the great honor to serve as President of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) in 2024–2025. Founded in 1941 and now comprising more than 6,000 members, AAS is a globally eminent professional society dedicated to advancing the field of Asian Studies through international intellectual exchange, publication programs, mentoring, support for scholars and students in low-income countries, and public engagement with the critical issues of our time.

During my presidency, I pursued several initiatives, a few of which I would like to highlight here. While AAS has long been recognized for the strength of its country-specific research, I sought to further encourage inter-area, transnational, and diasporic approaches by fostering collaboration not only across traditional regional boundaries within the humanities and social sciences, but also with scholars in the natural, medical, and environmental sciences. In recent years, scholars of Asian and Asian diaspora studies have increasingly taken up the concept of “Global Asias.” When AAS began planning the 2024 AAS-in-Asia conference in Yogyakarta, I proposed the theme “Global Asias: Latent Histories, Manifest Impacts.” Nearly half of the submitted proposals engaged inter-area or border-crossing themes, demonstrating the deep historical and contemporary interconnections within Asia and beyond. “Global Asias” is not a single, unified framework; rather, it is a nimble and open-ended approach. Many conference panels explored how Asian histories, cultures, religions, and peoples have shaped—and been shaped by—the wider world. These interconnected perspectives brought Asia into productive dialogue with broader theoretical concerns such as modernity, imperialism, migration, democracy, and the environment. The conference was marked by a genuine sense of excitement and intellectual energy, fostered by new perspectives, rigorous research, and dynamic exchange.

In addition to its two Annual Conferences—one in North America and one in Asia—AAS sponsors nine Regional Conferences. One of the great pleasures of serving as AAS President was attending these regional meetings to deliver keynote addresses and to engage directly with participants from across the regions. When I began my academic career, I presented my very first Asian Studies paper at a regional conference, and the encouragement I received from senior scholars at that time meant a great deal to me. That experience underscored for me the vital role regional conferences play in supporting emerging scholars, including graduate students and junior faculty. The large scale of the Annual Conference—often exceeding 3,000 participants—can be intimidating. The smaller regional conferences allow for extended discussion during sessions and more casual yet meaningful conversations between panels or over meals. I was consistently impressed by the cutting-edge research presented and the enthusiasm of emerging scholars. Participants included not only university-based faculty and students, but also K–12 teachers, community members, artists, and researchers who might not otherwise attend Asian Studies conferences. One particularly memorable presentation was given by a neuroscientist on the Emory–Tibet Science Initiative, a multi-year project bringing Western scientific traditions into dialogue with Tibetan Buddhist perspectives on mind and compassion.

Finally, I felt it was important to introduce a policy promoting language diversity at AAS conferences to foster more inclusive and dynamic scholarly exchange. English has long been the sole official language of AAS meetings. Under this new policy, scholars whose primary language is not English may present their research in their native languages. This initiative promises to bring out lesser-known historical and contemporary issues from Asia, inspiring new perspectives and methodologies, while also strengthening networks between scholars in Asia and those conducting fieldwork there. Recognizing language diversity is a meaningful step toward rethinking the global production and circulation of knowledge and the political economy of scholarly communication. Language is the medium for communicating ideas, and language choice lies at the heart of enduring questions about access to those ideas: whose knowledge is valued, circulated, and cited; what data are recorded and analyzed; and which institutions shape dominant theoretical and methodological trends.

Overall, my presidency was a deeply rewarding experience. I learned immensely from the people I encountered, was inspired by innovative scholarship, and empathized with colleagues facing the many challenges confronting higher education today. At the same time, I was energized by those committed to engaging the public and addressing urgent issues of our time. Although this historical moment presents significant challenges, my experience as AAS President reaffirmed that scholarship and teaching advance only through collective effort—through visible and invisible labor, genuine collaboration, mutual support, and shared inspiration.