UPDATE FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MAGGIE DILLON A WORD FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

In 2018, PiA celebrated several important milestones: from 120 years of PiA to 55 years in Hong Kong, and from 20 years in Laos to five years in Sri Lanka. This year of milestones provided us with an opportunity to recognize many special individuals and communities who have shaped PiA. We are excited to continue that celebration in Pacific Bridges with two features: a look back at the history of PiA’s Indonesia program, penned by alumna Kerrie Mitchell (Malaysia ’97) in celebration of PiA’s 50th anniversary in Indonesia, and a profile of PiA alumnus, partner, and safety advisor Josh Morris (Thailand ’99), penned by current Fellow Liam Reilly (Korea ’18).

India

After a five-year hiatus, we have relaunched programming in India, with four Fellows serving three partner organizations in Jaipur, Mumbai, and Bangalore. This fall, I traveled to India with Natalia Rodrigues, Director of Alumni Relations and Program Director for India and Sri Lanka, who has built the program over the past 18 months. We spent two days at the Tushita Foundation in Jaipur, where we saw Victoria Lord’s students learn about macronutrients and CJ Bellucci-DiLizia’s students test their photography skills. We went to Mumbai to visit Reva Abrol at the IDFC Institute, an economic development-focused think/do tank and learned about her research on data governance and traffic patterns. Finally, we went to Bangalore and learned about Trisha Chaudhary’s development efforts at Dream a Dream, a nonprofit supporting youth development. In Bangalore, we also caught up with PiA Emeritus Trustee Ruth Stevens, who is a guest professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore. The visit was inspiring, and we are excited about our future opportunities to grow and develop our program in India. If you’re interested in helping us, please be in touch!

ALUMNI NETWORK ACTIVITIES & RECRUITMENT

Our Alumni Network Chapters are thriving, with Alumni Leaders bringing the PiA community together across nine cities in the US and Asia for Fellow send-off and re-entry events, as well as social, cultural, and community engagement activities. And, on November 8th, 115+ PiAers gathered for a set of 15 simultaneous hosted dinners in eight cities across four countries –from Kazakhstan to the USA. This event, spearheaded by Trustee Austin Arensberg (Thailand ’06) and made possible by the generosity of the 21 individuals who welcomed the PiA family into their homes, is the broadestreaching alumni event in PiA’s history. And, it doesn’t stop there. Alumni volunteered their time this fall by hosting information sessions at 20 institutions in 18 locations around the country. Their efforts are the reason why PiA has once again broken the record for applications received. This year, nearly 700 new applicants have thrown their hats into the ring (representing a 6.5% increase over last year’s numbers) – a clear sign that our mission is resonating.

A FOND FAREWELL TO DIRECTOR OF ASIA OPERATIONS & DEPUTY DIRECTOR ALEX JONES

After eight years of service to PiA – first as a Fellow, then as a Program Director, and finally as Director of Asia Operations and Deputy Director – Alex Jones will be trading in his fox-fur adventure hat for a beret, as he pursues an MBA at INSEAD in Singapore. Alex’s journey with PiA began in 2010, when he was a PiA Fellow in Maolan village in Yunnan Province, China. Alex taught middle school English for two years through a partnership with Teach for China. When he wasn’t in the classroom, he was busy sharpening his Chinese language skills,

INTRODUCING NEW PROGRAM DIRECTOR: MEGHANA NERURKAR playing basketball under the stars, and cultivating a sense of creative, calm wisdom that made him an outstanding team member at PiA. Over six and a half years as a team member, Alex did it all. He stewarded partnerships in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Singapore, Mongolia, East Timor, Sri Lanka, and Laos. He launched innovative new posts with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (China), the Dunhuang Academy (China), the Milken Institute (Singapore), and Marie Stopes International (East Timor), among others. He relaunched partnerships with the University of Macau, after a nearly 20-year hiatus, as well as with Tunghai University, our oldest existing partner, after a nearly 30-year hiatus. He played lead roles in our Theory of Change and Strategic Planning processes, helped to launch the Program Committee of the Board of Trustees, and led the staff side of PiA’s efforts to build a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system. As Director of Asia Operations, he took the lead in managing health, safety, and security crises over a period of three and a half years.

And, he selected and supported Fellows and Interns – lots of them: 264, or 8.5% of all Princeton in Asia Fellows ever, to be precise. But I imagine that what we’ll all remember most about Alex are the less glamorous things he did behind the scenes, and always with a smile: 7AM coffee runs at Wawa, meeting a team member traveling to Beijing for the first time at the airport at 2AM, schlepping bags of Panera bagels to interviews during an ice storm, painting and gifting watercolor scenes to the team just because. It has been a privilege to work with Alex, and as we wish him the best on the next chapter of his journey, we thank him for the countless late nights, early mornings, and every day in between he dedicated to making PiA a better organization.

Alex will be passing the Director of Asia Operations torch to Ben Van Son (Cambodia ’14-’15), who for the past year has been serving as Program Director for Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Carriebright fellowship. We encourage all of you to stop by the PiA Singapore office at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, where we’re celebrating 25 years of partnership, to visit with Ben, Natalia, and Audrey! And, we’re thrilled to introduce our newest team member, Meghana Nerurkar (Macau SAR ’17), who will be managing PiA’s program in Greater China.

There are a lot of great things happening at PiA – and you are the people who make it possible. We thank you for all you have done and continue to do to support our ever urgent mission, and as we wrap up our celebration of 120 years of PiA, we look forward to the next 120 with hope, confidence, and appreciation of the important role we have to play in making a more peaceful and harmonious world.

Yours sincerely,

Maggie Dillon (Laos ‘10-’13) Executive Director