The UCLA Program on Central Asia (PoCA), established in 2008, is led and administered by the Asia Pacific Center (APC) under the guidance of a faculty steering committee. PoCA promotes the interdisciplinary and interregional study of Central Asia and the regions that surround it, including Western China, the Himalayas, Russia and eastern Europe, South Asia, and the Persianate and Turkic worlds. PoCA serves as an intellectual crossroads for scholars working on India, China, the Middle East, and Europe to exchange ideas with specialists on Central Asia and advance scholarship and understanding of the region. PoCA sponsors a speaker series, the Central Asia Workshop, conferences, and courses on Central Asian studies and languages.