OCAPA Lecture Fund

The Ohio Chinese American Professional Association (OCAPA) Lecture Fund (#315648), created on 6 October 2016, supports the Institute for Chinese Studies (ICS) lecture series, thanks to a donation of $13,000 from the non-profit organization, Ohio Chinese American Professional Association (OCAPA). Its mission, until its termination in October 2016, has been to promote the professional, educational, social, economic, and cultural well-being of Chinese Americans residing in the state of Ohio. It was co-founded by the late Professor Wen-Lang Li of The Ohio State University and Dr. Hwa-Wei Lee, Dean of the Ohio University Libraries.

We hope that additional donations in the months and years ahead will enable the OCAPA Lecture Fund to continue to support the ICS lecture series for many years to come. Donations to the fund are tax-deductible. With sufficient donations and growth, the fund could one day be converted to an endowment for a lasting legacy of the Ohio Chinese American Professional Association (OCAPA) and its enduring support of the Institute for Chinese Studies’ lecture series at The Ohio State University. 

Donating to the OCAPA Lecture Fund

Online Donation:  To make a donation online, please visit https://www.giveto.osu.edu (or: http://go.osu.edu/ocapa-fund) and fill out the online form. Thank you!

Mail-in Check:  Please make checks payable to "The Ohio State University" and put "OCAPA Lecture Fund" in the memo line. Please mail to: Institute for Chinese Studies, 140 Enarson Classroom Building, 2009 Millikin Road, Columbus OH, 43210.
 

About OCAPA

The Ohio Chinese American Professional Association (OCAPA), a state-wide, non-profit organization, was founded 31 years ago by the late Ohio State University Professor Wen-Lang Li and former Ohio University Dean Hwa-Wei Lee. Prior to its formation, in the early 1980s, a group of Ohio professors, scholars, and professionals met regularly to exchange ideas, network, and promote awareness of the Chinese culture to Ohioans.[1] They were from Taiwan, Mainland China, and other Chinese-speaking regions in the world. The organization gradually evolved into a state-wide, non-profit organization whose last elected officers were President Dr. A. J. Wang (Cincinnati), Executive Director Dr. S. S. Lee (Columbus), and Treasurer Professor W. R. Chen (Athens).

The mission of the organization was to promote the professional, educational, social, economic and cultural well-being of the Chinese-American residents of Ohio. The goals were:

1. To support activities which fulfill the mission of OCAPA.
    
2. To promote exchange of academic and professional information, cooperation among members, and interaction with other relevant organizations.
    
3. To encourage the participation of its members in the professional, academic and social activities thus to provide their professional skills to improve the society.
    
4. To promote cultural understanding between the Chinese -American residents of Ohio and the Ohio Community.
    
5. To enrich the Ohio Community by rendering those special services of an academic, professional, social, or cultural nature.
    
6. To develop short and long term plans to improve the social status of Chinese Americans.

During its three decades of existence, OCAPA was very active and had organized many, well-attended symposia. These were organized by volunteer, local chairs and planning committees through the assistance of the Board of OCAPA. The first 5 Professional Symposia were held at The Ohio State University. These events then rotated to other institutions in Ohio, including Wright State University, Ohio University, University of Dayton, University of Akron, Kent State University, Bowling Green State University, and University of Cincinnati. The venues for the symposia also included the Ohio cities of Toledo, Cleveland, and Columbus. The last symposium was held outside Ohio, at Shanghai Jiao-Tong University in Shanghai, China.
 

[1] OCAPA was initially the acronym for Ohio Chinese Academic and Professional Association.
 

Past ICS-OCAPA Lectures