About the MTCAA
Brief History of the MTCAA
The Mandarin Training Center Alumni Association (MTCAA) was formally
established in 1998 to enable alumni of the Mandarin Training Center (MTC)
(now known as the Center for Chinese Language and Culture, or CCLC) to make
contact with old friends and make new ones, wherever they are in the world.
It now has almost 500 members from over 30 countries.
During the summer of 1994, James Cheng, Lynn Lee, David Peerless,
and Bernard Schneider discussed establishing an alumni
association for the Mandarin Training Center. They took the idea to the
then director of the MTC, Professor Yeh Te-ming, who gave it her full
support. Preliminary work on an alumni association was begun, but at that
time the logistics of establishing the Association were overwhelming.
In late 1997, discussions between the four founders rekindled the idea of an
MTC Alumni Association. They brainstormed, created a list of alumni who
might be interested in building the Alumni Association and started
e-mailing. Bernard, David, James and Lynn became global coordinators and
coordinators for their respective cities of residence.
Reunions
The MTCAA's first reunion was organized by Bernard Schneider in New York
over the 1998 July Fourth weekend and was a big success. Twenty alums from
as far away as Toronto and London went for a meal in Chinatown and then
watched New York's July Fourth fireworks. The group met again the next day
for dim sum, reminisced about the good ol' days in Taiwan and visited the
American Museum of Natural History.
Since then, reunions have been held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, organized by
Catherine Hwang; twice in Hong Kong, organized by Chris Chen; in San
Francisco, organized by Lynn Lee; in Tokyo, organized by James Cheng and
Ricky Sakata; and in Toronto, organized by James Cheng. Most recently, the
MTCAA held its first reunion in Taipei, organized by Lynn Lee and Ross
Feingold together with the MTC.
Membership
The MTCAA now has almost 500 members from over thirty countries around the
world. Approximately 60 percent of members are from North America, 22 percent from Asia,
13 percent from Europe and 5 percent from other areas, as the pie chart below shows:
The MTCAA continues to grow, and it is particularly interested in increasing
its visibility in Korea and Japan, which have traditionally sent large
numbers of students to the MTC. For further information about the MTCAA,
please contact us by e-mail at mtcalumni@bigfoot.com
or view our website at http://mtc.ntnu.edu.tw/mtcaa. Please
register using our online registration form and forward information about
the MTCAA to your friends and former classmates. The MTCAA welcomes your
suggestions and support and looks forward to hearing from you!
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