This article consists of the text of a speech delivered by Dr. Bruce T. Downing as the closing keynote speech at the Hmong Across Borders conference at the University of Minnesota in October 2013. The speech discusses how the University of Minnesota came to take on an important role in Hmong Studies research in the early 1980s. The author also discusses his involvement in early Hmong refugee resettlement efforts in the U.S. and how the landscape of Hmong Studies has changed over the past several decades.