MAUVSA serves the Vietnamese American community, unifies the Vietnamese Student Associations (VSAs) of the Mid-Atlantic region, and empowers young Vietnamese Americans by fostering cultural awareness, promoting social justice, and developing leadership.

HISTORY

In 2006, the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (UNAVSA) approached students from Virginia Commonwealth University with the idea of creating an umbrella organization in the Mid-Atlantic area, similar to UVSA SoCal and other regional networks.

The seven universities that would form MAUVSA held their first summit on October 14, 2006. Representatives from these schools were greeted by the helpful direction of former UNAVSA President Hai T. Ton, External Vice-President Minh Thanh Nguyen, and Treasurer Aileen Pham. The UNAVSA officers presented an overview of leadership, and facilitated workshops on topics such as membership, coalition building, and project management.

After this initial summit, leaders from the seven Mid-Atlantic VSAs continued to meet throughout the academic year, and focused on drafting MAUVSA's new constitution. On July 21, 2007, they ratified and signed the constitution, officially recognizing and sanctioning the organization.