SIS dean Louis Goodman, U.S. ambassador to ASEAN Scot Marciel, ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan, AU president Neil Kerwin,  and SIS professors Amitav Acharya and Pek Koon Heng-Blackburn open the ASEAN Study Center. (Photo: Jeff Watts)

 The nations in the powerful Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be the focus of AU’s  newest center, the ASEAN Study Center. The first academic research center of its kind in the U.S., it will cooperate with the ASEAN Secretariat on joint research. The launch and symposium brought together diplomats and AU scholars including, from left, School of International Service dean Louis Goodman, U.S. ambassador to ASEAN Scot Marciel, ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan, AU president Neil Kerwin,  and SIS professors Amitav Acharya and Pek Koon Heng-Blackburn.