{"id":490,"date":"2015-11-16T17:17:14","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T17:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.jsis.washington.edu\/eacenter\/?p=490"},"modified":"2016-06-14T21:12:14","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T21:12:14","slug":"pen-pal-paved-way-alums-interest-u-s-china-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/eacenter\/2015\/11\/16\/pen-pal-paved-way-alums-interest-u-s-china-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Pen pal paved way for alum\u2019s interest in U.S.-China relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tina Lu<\/em>
\nSpecial to the Jackson School<\/em><\/p>\n

One retired U.S. Air Force officer and alumnus of the Jackson School is pursuing U.S.-China relations in a unique way.<\/p>\n

In 2011, Carson Tavenner (MAIS, China, 2000) started the Tai Initiative<\/a>, which helps build U.S.-China relationships between organizations at a local level. That means helping schools, corporations, or cities to work together to foster understanding.<\/p>\n

Tavenner and the Tai Initiative provide knowledge of China and understanding of the larger trends in China-U.S. relations to local groups, said Donald Bishop, Tai Initiative\u2019s informal adviser and Tavenner\u2019s mentor, through an email.<\/p>\n

\"Carson<\/a><\/p>\n

Carson Tavenner gave the opening remarks at a conference held by the Tai Initiative.Photo courtesy Carson Tavenner.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cCarson and the Tai Initiative have identified many different groups in the Pacific Northwest that have China ties,\u201d said Bishop. \u201cConferences have allowed them to meet, compare notes, and understand more of the larger context.\u201d<\/p>\n

In July, the Tai Initiative held its annual conference in Washington, D.C. \u201cThe D.C. environment is largely known for being very high speed, very high level, and not having a lot of time to stop and listen,\u201d Tavenner said. \u201cSo to have people stop and listen, and say, \u2018Hey, this is good stuff.\u2019 That was very satisfying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeking a pen pal in China<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Tavenner\u2019s interests in China started when he entered his senior year at Puyallup High School in 1987. He pitched his idea of starting a sister-school relationship with another school in China, and eventually brought his idea to the district\u2019s superintendent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to reach out and have some kind of exchange between students with letters, or learning from one another,\u201d Tavenner said. \u201cAnd I wanted to have a friend begin a pen-pal relationship with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Tavenner talks about his vision about a sister-school relation<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\"Carson<\/a><\/p>\n

Carson Tavenner carries this photo of himself (left) and Qian Jun (right) with him in the wallet.Photo courtesy Carson Tavenner.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the superintendent visited China in 1987, he brought two letters by Tavenner: One to introduce himself to an unknown Chinese boy, and the other to the Chinese superintendent for helping with the sister-school relationship.<\/p>\n

After graduating from high school, Tavenner didn\u2019t follow that passion as a professional path, because he was entering the United States Air Force Academy in order to be a fighter pilot: \u201cA fighter pilot that is preparing to go to war with the Soviet Union. That was my life at that time,\u201d Tavenner said. \u201cThat\u2019s what was going on in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time he received anything back from China, he was already in the academy. For four years, his pen pal, Qian Jun, and he wrote letters back and forth.<\/p>\n

When he graduated from the academy in 1991, he backpacked through Hong Kong and China by himself, and met Qian Jun for the first time. Tavenner described the trip as \u201clife-changing\u201d and \u201cthe real hook\u201d that snagged him for life.<\/p>\n

Qian Jun later moved to the U.S. and lived here for 20 years. He just recently moved back to China to be a professor of finance at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m in the process of exploring what he and I might do together through the Tai Initiative,\u201d Tavenner said.<\/p>\n

At the local level, organizations aren\u2019t tied down by politics that complicate U.S.-China relations at the national level. \u201cNational security and big governmental issues too often get in the way of building more constructive, positive relationships,\u201d Tai Initiative board member Gregory Waldrop (MAIS, China, 2000) said through an email. \u201cCommonalities often forge relationships and understanding with less facilitation and with by far fewer obstacles.\u201d Waldrop has known Tavenner since 1998 when they were peers in the JSIS China Studies<\/a> program.<\/p>\n

In 1998, Tavenner was asked to teach history at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The Jackson School was his first choice to pursue a master\u2019s degree, which he needed in order to teach. He graduated with a degree in international relations, with a focus on China. He taught at the academy from 2000 to 2003, an experience that gave context to what he had learned at the Jackson School about China.<\/p>\n

Tavenner is still involved with the Jackson School after graduating years later. He has been a part of the JSIS mentoring program since it started a few years ago. He mentors his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 about school, career choices, and even life choices beyond their years at the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cMentoring is a very important process in any professional\u2019s life,\u201d Tavenner said. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult for young people to become leaders without a leading mentor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tina Lu Special to the Jackson School One retired U.S. Air Force officer and alumnus of the Jackson School is pursuing U.S.-China relations in a unique way. In 2011, Carson Tavenner (MAIS, China, 2000) started the Tai Initiative, which helps build U.S.-China relationships between organizations at a local level. That means helping schools, corporations,<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[14,16,17,37,49],"class_list":["post-490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-news","tag-alumni","tag-carson-tavenner","tag-china","tag-m-a-international-studies","tag-student-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPen pal paved way for alum\u2019s interest in U.S.-China relations - East Asia Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/eacenter\/2015\/11\/16\/pen-pal-paved-way-alums-interest-u-s-china-relations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pen pal paved way for alum\u2019s interest in U.S.-China relations - East Asia Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Tina Lu Special to the Jackson School One retired U.S. Air Force officer and alumnus of the Jackson School is pursuing U.S.-China relations in a unique way. 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