Alumni, parents, and friends participated in a Block Break Away to Vietnam and Cambodia in May. The group visited the picturesque Halong Bay, famous for its 1,960 limestone islands and floating villages; the Hue home of historian Phan Thuan An, who has written many books about Vietnam’s history, culture, literature, and Hue monuments, and was featured in the August 1931 edition of National Geographic; the cities of Hanoi, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City, where the entrepreneurial spirit of street markets rule; and among the ancient Cambodian temples, Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Khmers. Photos by Hung Nguyen and Tim Burke.

In August, alumni and friends participated in a Baca Mini-Blocka program, Crossing Borders: Fortress Europe and Walled America, with Ane Steckenbiller, assistant professor of German, Russian, and East Asian languages, and Santiago Guerra, assistant professor of Southwest Studies. They set the context and conversation around the complicated topic of immigration, focusing on Mexican and European migration. Photos by Anita Pariseau.