Most dreams don’t happen overnight. They are gradually fulfilled.
Such was the case of the UTSA East Asia Institute, designed to educate not only UTSA, but also the entire city of San Antonio.
Although the Institute was not officially approved until August 2008, it started with Chinese businessman Richard Liu several years ago. In 1999 Liu donated one million dollars for Chinese business students to study at UTSA. Over the next several years, Liu continued to assist Chinese students who wanted to study in America. In 2007 an idea was born to expand the mission.
According to Dr. Don Lien, director of the East Asia Institute, the Institute’s scope grew.
“For almost 10 years the concentration was mostly on business,” Dr. Lien said. “We wanted to expand beyond that, to do something to target all of UTSA, and expand to all of San Antonio.”
It was from this idea that the East Asia Institute was born. In December 2007 plans were made for what would become the Institute. According to Lien, the Institute had help from the university itself, as UTSA President Richard Romo was “supportive from day one.”
The Institute was officially approved in August 2008, but there were still struggles in getting it off the ground.
According to Lien and East Asia Institute Associate Director Mimi Yu, there was no funding for the Institute until January 2009, and there was no office until March. The Institute is now located on the second floor of the main building.
According to the Institute’s web site, its mission  is to “promote appreciation and understanding of East Asian societies and cultures both on campus and in the community through research, outreach, networking, education, student/faculty exchange, and business development and cooperation.”
 Lien explained, “The goal is not only for Chinese students to learn about UTSA, but for UTSA to learn about China.  The goal is an equal exchange between UTSA and China.”
In addition to working with UTSA, the institute has been working with the city of San Antonio, as well as with the Japanese American Society of San Antonio, the San Antonio Museum of Art, the San Antonio Chinese Alliance, and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.
The cooperation from these groups has allowed the Institute to host  events such as East Asia Week, as well as a lecture series covering topics from Japan & U.S. relations to “China’s Transformation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.”
An upcoming event is the Confucius Institute. Officially approved by UTSA this past December, the Confucius Institute will bring two professors from China to UTSA as well as a University Director from Beijing. The grand opening is scheduled for Feb 10 at 7:30 . on campus.
In addition to the grand opening, also scheduled is a lecture on contemporary Chinese art and society (Jan. 28), a lecture on globalization and China marketing  (Feb 17), and the Mei Chiang dance troupe from Taiwan (Feb. 19) More information about the Institute can be found online at http://utsa.edu/eai.