Pacific Rim CEOs and other dignitaries gather at Mudd Hall. Front row: USC President Steven B. Sample; Emil Q. Javier, president, University of the Philippines; Richard L. McCormick, president, University of Washington; Thomas E. Everhart, president, California Institute of Technology; Charles E. Young, chancellor, UCLA; Chang-Lin Tien, chancellor, UC Berkeley; and Thienchay Kiranandana, president, Chulalongkorn University. Row two: Wei-Jao Chen, president, National Taiwan University; Tang Honggao, president, University of Science and Technology of China; Vladimir I. Kurilov, president, Far Eastern State University, Russia; Francisco Barnés de Castro, rector, National Autonomous University of Mexico; Woo Chia-Wei, president, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Vladimir Zelman, anesthesiologist, USC School of Medicine; Jungho Sonu, president, Seoul National University. Row three: Robert M. Berdahl, chancellor-elect, UC Berkeley; David W. Strangway, president, University of British Columbia; Gavin Brown, vice chancellor, University of Sydney; and Dave Frohnmayer, president, University of Oregon. Row four: Richard Drobnick, vice provost for international relations, USC; William P. Fuller, president, the Asia Foundation; W.G. (Kit) Carson, vice chancellor, University of Auckland; Muhammad Kamil Tadjudin, rector, University of Indonesia; and Dean Terrell, vice chancellor, Australian National University.

J. Stapleton Roy, the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, opened his remarks to the academic leaders by referring to the title of Dean Acheson's memoir Present at the Creation. Roy expressed his "satisfaction at having the opportunity to be present at this exploratory meeting, a session that could also have far-reaching positive consequences for the next century."

USC President Steven B. Sample, who will serve as chairman of the APRU during 1997-98, said: "Our universities educate most of the Pacific Rim's leaders in government, business, science and the arts. Working together, we can help to make the Pacific Rim the leading region of the world."

A steering committee has been formed to provide leadership to the organization. In addition to Sample, the members are Francisco Barnés de Castro, rector, La Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City; Thienchay Kiranandana, president, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand; Jungho Sonu, president, Seoul National University, South Korea; Muhammad Kamil Tadjudin, rector, University of Indonesia, Depok; Deane Terrell, vice chancellor, Australian National University, Canberra; and Henry Yang, chancellor, UC Santa Barbara.

The objective of the association, according to the founding document, is to help member institutions become more effective contributors to the development of an increasingly integrated Pacific Rim community. "This goal is analogous to, and supportive of, the efforts of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) leaders to create a community of Pacific Rim nations," the document states. "By increasing mutual understanding among the chief executives of leading universities, the APRU will stimulate cooperation in teaching and research on issues of major importance to the Pacific Rim community."

The APRU's next meeting will take place in 1998 at a member campus in Asia to be chosen by the steering committee.

Sample - along with UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young, Caltech President Thomas E. Everhart and UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien - convened the 20 presidents who took part in the founding meeting, held June 1 through 3 at USC. William Fuller, president of the Asia Foundation, and Cornelius Pings, president of the Association of American Universities, also participated in the exploratory meeting.

The California presidents and chancellors met with their counterparts from institutions in countries ringing the Pacific Ocean from Australia to Korea to Canada to Mexico. Under the meeting ground rules, only the chief executive officer of each university could attend.

"The nations of the Pacific Rim will constitute the world's dominant economic region in the next century," Sample said. "If mutual understanding among these universities can be enhanced through the APRU, the member universities will be able to cooperate in teaching and research in areas such as economic development, environmental protection, technology transfer, and education of the next generation of leaders."