The SUNY/CUNY Southeast Asia Consortium, with support from GETSEA, invites graduate students and advanced undergraduates to explore Southeast Asian studies through art, archives, and networking activities on April 18, 2026 at Cornell University.

Cornell is home to the Southeast Asia Program (SEAP), which will host the gathering, highlighting its world-renowned library and art collections alongside opportunities to connect with peers and scholars. Networking activities will focus on topics such as publishing, producing a podcast, and the interests of participants. 

Fill out this form to request travel funding from SUNY/CUNY SEAC and to reserve your space. The deadline to complete this form is Friday, April 10, 2026. SEAP will match those students who request help with accommodations with Cornell graduate students willing to host. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided as part of the programming on April 18. 

Those arriving early on April 17 are welcome to join a Friday night Southeast Asia game night at the Kahin Center.  

On April 18, the program will include:

• A guided visit to the Echols Collection in the Kroch Library, with curator Greg Green and librarian Jeff Peterson

• New Year celebrations (water festival) with Cambodian, Thai, and Myanmar student organizations

• A Balinese art session with Professor Kaja McGowan on art in research and pedagogy

• Evening dinner and networking at the Kahin Center, SEAP’s home base

Participants traveling by bus or with limited schedules are welcome to arrive late or depart early; please indicate your plans when registering.

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross presents the exhibition, The Vietnamese Áo Dài in a Time of War: Fashion, Citizenship, and Nationalism (1954–1975), on view through December 19, 2025. Timed to the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end, the exhibition offers a fresh lens on the conflict through Vietnam’s national costume—the áo dài—highlighting its cultural and political significance in the US and abroad. With Worcester home to one of the state’s largest Vietnamese and Vietnamese American communities, the show aims to spark connection, reflection, and dialogue around a history that still resonates today.

The hours for the Cantor Art Gallery are Tuesday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturdays noon – 5 p.m.

The Cantor Art Gallery is located in the Prior Performing Arts Center, 3rd level, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester, Mass., 01610. The building is handicap accessible. Admission to the gallery is free.

More information and details:

Co-curated by Dr. Ann Marie Leshkowich of Holy Cross, Dr. Martina Thucnhi Nguyen of Baruch College-CUNY, and Dr. Tuong Vu of the University of Oregon, the exhibition features thirty historic and contemporary garments that illustrate how clothing has been used to show solidarity with—or opposition to—political ideologies and cultural identity. More than half of the objects were worn by two prominent First Ladies of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)—Madame Ngô Đình Nhu and Madame Nguyễn Văn Thiệu—during the 1960s and 1970s.

Co-curator Dr. Martina Nguyen reflects on the significance of this exhibition: “As a child of Vietnamese refugees raised in rural Texas, I grew up looking at photos of Madame Nhu and Madame Thiệu in history books. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would ever see these iconic áo dài, much less work with them. We are proud to bring these important historical artifacts to the public, to highlight the agency of women and the Vietnamese American community in the history of the Vietnam War.”

Like other examples of national clothing, such as the Scottish kilt or Japanese kimono, the áo dài (pronounced ow yai or ow zai)—a long tunic with a high collar and side slits worn over wide-legged pants—has become an icon of Vietnamese national identity. This exhibition asserts that the “national costume,” seemingly a traditional marker of culture, is a modern construction that changes over time. In showing how something as seemingly mundane and innocuous as clothing was used to assert Vietnamese nationalism and cultural identity during decades of violent civil and international strife, the exhibition focuses on the fascinating, yet rarely connected, topics of fashion and war.

Co-curator Dr. Leshkowich explains: “We don’t often think of war and fashion together, but clothing can be an especially potent political weapon. During the Vietnam War, high-profile women on very different political sides shared a sense that Vietnam’s national costume was an important symbol of Vietnamese culture and heritage. The messages they sent helped to shape the course of the war, not just within northern and southern Vietnam, but also in the White House and the peace negotiations in Paris.”

Contemporary garments in the exhibition, including the first áo dài worn on the Oscars’ red carpet, speak to the ongoing fascination with and prevalence of the style in Vietnam and among Vietnamese Americans today. The garments are further contextualized by representations in mass media, photography, pop culture, and fine art.

Co-curator Dr. Vu is the Director of the US-Vietnam Research Center at the University of Oregon. He says: “Nothing is like the áo dài as the symbol of female beauty in Vietnam, yet its history also reflects the fascinating evolution of the country's culture and society in the past 100 years. The US-Vietnam Research Center is proud to contribute to this exhibition that we hope will offer Americans, including Vietnamese Americans, a fresh way of understanding Vietnamese history and culture.”

The exhibition is generously supported by the Coby Foundation, the Carpenter Foundation, and the Daymarc Foundation. Related programming will be available throughout the duration of the exhibition. All events will be posted to the Cantor Art Gallery’s website and Prior Performing Arts Center’s website.

About Holy Cross: The College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Mass., is among the nation's leading liberal arts institutions. A highly selective, four-year, exclusively undergraduate college of 3,200 students, Holy Cross is renowned for offering a rigorous, personalized education in the Jesuit, Catholic tradition. Since its founding in 1843, Holy Cross has made a positive impact in society by graduating students who distinguish themselves as thoughtful leaders in business, professional and civic life.

About the Cantor Art Gallery: Founded in 1983 through the generosity of Iris & B. Gerald Cantor, the Cantor Art Gallery serves both as a venue for a changing series of historical and contemporary public exhibitions, as well as a vital resource for Holy Cross faculty and students, linking exhibitions to the broader liberal arts curriculum.