HONOLULU (June 24, 2011) -- HONOLULU (June 24, 2011) -- Dr. Nancy Lewis, Director of the East-West Center’s Research Program, has been named president of the Pacific Science Association. Lewis was elected at the organization’s 22nd Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last week.

“I am deeply honored to have been elected president of the Pacific Science Association as the PSA begins charting the course towards its hundredth anniversary in 2020,” Lewis said.

HONOLULU (Sept. 8, 2011) -- Philippines President Benigno Aquino III has appointed East-West Center alumnus Juan Romeo Nereus Acosta to the newly created cabinet post of Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection.

President Aquino told the press that Acosta, who is popularly known by the nickname “Neric,” will be tasked with coordinating environmental concerns for a “coherent implementation of policy.”

President Aquino administers the Oath of Office to Neric Acosta on Aug. 24. Photo: Jay Morales/Malacañang Photo Bureau.“(He) will help me have a better, sharper focus because he will be able to tackle it in a more in-depth manner,” Aquino said after Acosta was sworn in on Aug. 24.

Eric MilsteadHONOLULU (Sept. 29, 2011) – Eric N. Milstead, an IT Manager at the U.S. Department of State, has joined the East-West Center for a one-year post as a visiting research fellow and diplomat-in-residence.

Trade ministers of Australia and New Zealand will also be featured

HONOLULU (Nov. 2, 2011) – Asian Development Bank President and Chairman Haruhiko Kuroda has joined the roster of high-level speakers at the Asia-Pacific Business Symposium that will be held at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa during the upcoming APEC Leaders’ Week. Other featured speakers include the trade ministers of Australia and New Zealand, along with numerous business leaders, experts and officials from a broad range of Asia Pacific nations.

HONOLULU, HI (April 16, 2012) — As part of a partnership project with EWC's Pacific Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program (Pacific RISA), the Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy (ICAP), at the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program, recently published Water Resources and Climate Change Adaptation in Hawai‘i: Adaptive Tools in the Current Law and Policy Framework. The white paper aims to enhance climate change adaptation for water resources throughout the state.

UHM SPAS Dean Edward Shultz to head EWC’s International Alumni Association Executive Board

HONOLULU (June 20, 2012) – Dr. Edward (Ned) Shultz, Dean of the School of Pacific and Asian Studies (SPAS) at University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) and Assistant Vice Chancellor for International Programs and Exchange, has been named the new president of the East-West Center’s Alumni Association Executive Board. On July 1, 2012, Shultz will succeed former UHM Asian Studies Program Graduate Chair, Dr. Ricardo Trimillos, who had served his term as president and will remain on the board as an ex-officio member.

HONOLULU (Sept. 27, 2012) – – Nicholas Papp, a 13-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, has joined the East-West Center as Diplomat-in-Residence. He will be posted at the Center until June 2013 with a research focus on the current democratic reform movement in Burma.

HONOLULU (Nov. 2, 2012) – Eight journalists from various parts of Asia have begun the East-West Center’s special U.S. Presidential Election Reporting Seminar. On the 12-day tour immediately before, during and after the election, the journalists will visit Florida, Ohio and Washington, DC to gain inside perspectives on the American electoral system and the key issues involved in this year’s presidential contest.

HONOLULU (Sept. 19, 2013) – – Timothy Neely, a 26-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, has joined the East-West Center as Diplomat-in-Residence. He will be posted at the Center until June 2014.

Specializing in economic, environmental, science and technology issues, Neely’s overseas assignments have included Guangzhou, Kaohsiung, Beijing, Taipei, Manila, and New Delhi, while his domestic assignments have included textile negotiations with East Asia and Pacific nations, and U.S. representation to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation organization.  Most recently, Tim headed the Environment, Science and Technology Affairs office at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.

HONOLULU (Oct. 31, 2013) -- The East-West Center has received  funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to promote public understanding and dialogue about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia through the continuation of activities to monitor, analyze, and disseminate information about the tribunal proceedings.

HONOLULU (Sept. 25, 2014) – – Nicholas Manring, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, has joined the East-West Center as Diplomat-in-Residence. He will be posted at the Center until June 2015.

HONOLULU (Aug. 18, 2015) – Thanks to more than $84,000 in funding from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the East-West Center’s 2015 Senior Journalists Seminar, which seeks to improve relations between the U.S. and Muslim regions, will include more Middle Eastern journalists and, for the first time, arts and culture reporters.

HONOLULU (Oct. 2, 2015) – – Donald Sheehan, a 22-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, has joined the East-West Center as Diplomat-in-Residence. He will be posted at the Center until June 2016.

MANILA (Jan. 15, 2016) -- Philippines President Benigno S. Aquino III today addressed about 300 East-West Center alumni and colleagues at the Center’s three-day international alumni conference in Manila, speaking on the conference theme of "Bridging Diverse Cultures towards an Inclusive Asia Pacific Community."

“In bridging the divides between our respective contexts," President Aquino said, "it is my belief that the East-West Center, its fellows, and alumni can play an even greater, more active role by enriching the means by which we communicate, promoting more positive insights about one another, and facilitating a deeper appreciation for both our similarities and diversities.”

Current President Charles E. Morrison set to retire this summer

HONOLULU (February 29, 2016) – The East-West Center Board of Governors has begun an international search for a new president to succeed Dr. Charles E. Morrison, who has announced that he will be retiring this coming August after leading the Center since 1998. Exceptional candidates from across the Asia Pacific region and the U.S. will be considered, including residents of Hawai‘i, where the Center's headquarters are located.

Established by the U.S. Congress in 1960, the East-West Center promotes better relations and understanding among the people and nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific through cooperative study, research, and dialogue. The Center serves as a resource for information and analysis through programs focusing on higher education, policy-relevant research and international professional exchange.

WASHINGTON, D.C.(May 11, 2016) - The Asia Matters for America initiative of the East-West Center today launched a new online resource, Asia Reacts, which tracks Asia’s reactions to important developments in U.S.–Asia relations during and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The effort will monitor responses of Asian governments, media, and experts.

HONOLULU (Aug. 26, 2016) -- The East-West Center Board of Governors announced that Dr. Richard R. Vuylsteke, an East-West Center alumnus with extensive experience throughout the Asia-Pacific region, has been selected as the next president of the East-West Center. The appointment of Dr. Vuylsteke concludes a year-long search involving several hundred potential candidates.

Dr. Richard R. Vuylsteke is an EWC alumnus who has run American Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and Taipei

HONOLULU (Jan. 5, 2017) – The East-West Center has welcomed its new President, Dr. Richard R. Vuylsteke, a former EWC grantee and staff member who rejoins the Center after several decades living in Asia and serving most recently as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

HONOLULU (July 14, 2017) – Researchers with the Pacific Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (Pacific RISA) program housed at the East-West Center have released the latest in a series of “Climate Matters” ‘documoment’ videos. The new seven-minute video, titled “Climate Matters for Ridge to Reef Ecosystems,” focuses on climate change impacts in West Maui forest watersheds and reef ecosystems. The video features interviews with two Pacific RISA stakeholders from the Maui Future Climate Scenarios project, each representing part of the ridge-to-reef climate and ecosystem connection.

HONOLULU (Sept. 7, 2017) –  Peggy Petrovich, a 17-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, has joined the East-West Center as Diplomat-in-Residence. She will be posted at the Center until June 2018.

HONOLULU (October 31, 2018) -- East-West Center Distinguished Alumnus Dr. Hao Ping, who is also leader of the Center’s Beijing alumni chapter, was recently named president of Peking University, China’s premier institution of higher learning. He previously served as party secretary of the university – often referred to as the “Harvard of China” – as well as a national vice minister of education.

HONOLULU (November 23, 2018) – Strained freshwater supplies, damaged and compromised coastal infrastructure, coral reef death, and greater stresses on native biodiversity and species are among the major concerns and challenges detailed in the Hawai‘i-Pacific Islands chapter of the fourth official US National Climate Assessment, released today. In economic terms, the impacts add up to billions of dollars.

The chapter on Hawai‘i and the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands appears in Volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, the most significant US report to assess the effects of climate change on the US economy and communities. The assessment finds that early action to address these impacts can lower economic, environmental, social, and cultural costs and could help to prevent conflict or displacement from lands and resources.

HONOLULU (Feb. 3, 2020) -- The East-West Center has again been ranked #4 in a University of Pennsylvania institute’s 2019 list of best government-affiliated think tanks worldwide, the same ranking the Center received in last year’s list. It is notable that the only three institutions ranked higher than EWC are affiliated with such large organizations as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and US Congressional Research Service. In addition, the Center ranked ninth in the Best Regional Studies (Free Standing) category.

HONOLULU (May 30, 2019) -- The East-West Center is pleased to welcome Ambassador Karena Lyons, the former New Zealand Ambassador to the nations of Micronesia and Consul General for Hawai‘i, as the Center’s new Vice President, Executive Director of Research, and Director (designate) of the Pacific Islands Development Program.

HONOLULU (June 13, 2019) -- East-West Center alumnus David R. Stilwell was confirmed by 94-3 vote of the U.S. Senate today as the new U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Stilwell, a retired Air Force Brigadier General, received his master’s degree in Asian studies as an EWC grantee in the 1980s and later was an Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Center.

HONOLULU (Aug. 6, 2019) – Juan “Jay” Avecilla, a 16-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service, has joined the East-West Center as Diplomat-in-Residence. He will be posted at the Center until June 2020.

Prior to his arrival in Honolulu, Mr. Avecilla served as Management Officer in the U.S. Consulate General in Milan, Italy. Previously, he has served in various management positions at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan and in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in Washington, D.C.  His other overseas assignments included tours as Consular/Management Officer in Fukuoka, Japan, Consular Officer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Economic Officer in Hanoi, Vietnam.