北美洲台灣人教授協會南加州分會
NATPA South California Chapter
A Note on the Celebration of NATPA – S CAL’s Pearl Anniversary
作者 何汝諧
NATPA (North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association) was founded on February 16, 1980 on the campus of the University of Chicago through years of efforts exerted by the late Prof. Dr. Shutsung Liao. The central tenets of the association are: (1) to promote scientific and professional knowledge and its utilization; (2) to facilitate international understanding, educational exchange, cultural contact among people in Taiwan, the United States, and other countries; (3) to sponsor scholarly research and education on subjects related to Taiwan; and (4) to further the general welfare of Taiwanese communities in North America. The Association currently embraces 11 regional Chapters. They are (in order from northeast to southwest): New England Chapter, Baltimore/DC Chapter, New York/New Jersey Chapter, Cleveland Chapter, North Central Chapter, Michigan Chapter, Great Plain Chapter, St. Louis Chapter, Houston Chapter, Northern California Chapter, and Southern California Chapter.
In the fall of 1985 張富美, a member serving on the Board of Directors of NATPA, called me one day and asked me to plan for the establishment of a NATPA Chapter in southern California. I accepted her suggestion immediately, because in the greater Los Angeles area one finds the highest concentration of Taiwanese Americans. Accordingly, an Ad Hoc Committee was convened consisting of five NATPA members residing in southern California. Those five members are陳昭俊, 簡錦標, 何汝諧, 謝清志and王秋森. After meeting three times in November of that year the Committee produced a notice about the founding of S Cal Chapter and mailed it to all NATPA members residing in the following five counties: Ventura County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, Orange County, and San Diego County. The founding date was set on December 14 and a celebration with general meeting followed by a banquet was planned. The venue was set at the Lincoln Plaza Hotel located in Monterey Park (also known as “Little Taipei” among the Taiwanese Americans). The NATPA members presented at the S Cal founding meeting were (in alphabetical order): 陳昭俊, 簡錦標, 何汝諧, 許正餘, 洪肇奎, 龔森田, 李隆吉, 李成奎, 李瑞木, 林宗信, 盧桂雄, 謝清志, 謝德明, 孫昱, and王秋森. These 15 founding members and their spouses attended the celebration banquet. The guest of honor at the celebration was 林宗光, the President of NATPA at the time.
With the diligent cultivation and close cooperation of our chapter members over the past three decades, S Cal Chapter has grown from the original 15 members to nearly 100 members today. Consequently, it has become NATPA9s largest and most active chapter. We are proud to have sponsored three past annual conferences of NATPA, respectively, held in 1996, 2001 and 2013. This year’s annual conference on board an ocean cruiser is the first of its kind for NATPA. We are pleased to be the chapter initiating this new convention venue.
At the time S Cal Chapter was established, there were 45 active Taiwanese associations, or organizations, in the greater Los Angeles area. In the spirit of one of our major tenets to promote on scientific and professional knowledge and its utilization, a ‘‘Speakers Bureau” was established by S Cal Chapter to provide speakers to those Taiwanese associations and organizations at their respective gatherings. Later in 1995 the “S Cal Tribune”[南加學壇]was established and over a two year period provided one article a week for publication in two Taiwanese newspapers 國際日報and太平洋時報.
In the beginning our chapter was set to have three meetings a year. In addition to an Annual Conference (with election of officers in addition to seminars and banquet), a Winter Retreat and a Spring Gathering were also held. Over time, an emphasis was placed on informal family gatherings among Chapter members. With the advent of the millennium, through the enthusiasm and hard work of Dr. and Mrs. 龔森田, fellowship among the S Cal Chapter members was further fostered via traveling together – on land tours, river cruises as well as ocean cruises. This tour activity has been going on every year since 2001.
A list in chronological order of those members who served as President of S Cal Chapter is as follow:
何汝諧(1985 – 1986)，簡錦標(1986 – 1987)，簡錦標(1987 – 1988)，盧桂雄(1988 – 1989)，顏裕庭(1989 – 1990)，顏裕庭(1990 – 1991 )，龔森田(1991 – 1992)，蔡振水(1992 – 1993) ，王寶田(1993 – 1994) ，李英偉(1994 – 1995)，林茂修(1995 – 1996)，吳和甫(1996 – 1997) ，程孟郎 (1997 – 1998) ，徐新宏(1998 – 1999)，鐘正明(1999 – 2000)，許正餘(2001 – 2002)，鄭英松 (2002 – 2003) ，賴青山(2003 – 2004) ，杜武青(2004 – 2005)，鄭龍光(2005 – 2006}，周信結 (2006 – 2007) ，蔡芳洋(2007 – 2008) ，謝堯洋(2008 – 2009)，葉榮茂(2009 – 2010)，黃根深 (2010 – 2011) ，陳榮昌(2011 – 2013)，and 許宗邦(2013 – 2015).
The prodigious work and magnificient leadership carried out during their tenure of the Chapter Presidency are instrumental to the success of our chapter – the S Cal Chapter.
