Each Spring, the J. Earl Moreland Lecture on Asia brings a distinguished expert to the Randolph-Macon campus for a three day visit of classes and a public lecture. The purpose is to create greater student understanding and interest in Asian affairs through direct contact with distinguished scholars and prominent professionals. The lecture series was established through the generous donation of the late Dr. Lik Kiu Ding ’49 to commemorate J. Earl Moreland, President of Randolph-Macon College from 1939 to 1967.
- 2024 Eric C. Rath, Professor of History, University of Kansas. “The Story of Sushi: How a Fermented Dish Became a Global Fast Food.”
- 2023 Gina Marchetti, Chair, Department of Humanities and Media Studies, Pratt Institute. “To Be Young on Chinese Screens: Gender, Generation, and Twenty-First Century Cinema.”
- 2022 | Michael Dylan Foster, Professor and Chair of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of California, Davis. “Visiting Deities: Cultural Heritage and Tourism in Rural Japan.”
- 2021 | (no lecture held)
- 2020 | (no lecture held)
- 2019 | Pamela Tom, director of the documentary film “Tyrus.”
- 2018 | Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers, 2017 finalist for National Book Award in Fiction.
- 2017 | Atsuyuki Oike, Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC. “Why the US-Japan Partnership is Important in East Asia.”
- 2016 | Chum Bun Rong, Cambodian Ambassador to the United States and Mexico. “Contemporary Cambodian-American Relations.”
- 2015 | Evan Osnos, staff writer, New Yorker. “Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China.”
- 2014 | roundtable discussion with director Jia Zhangke, actress Zhao Tao, and Tom Vick, Curator of Asian Film, Smithsonian Institution.
- 2013 | Yunsheng Huang, Associate Professor of Asian Architecture, University of Virginia. “The Internationalization of Buddhist Architecture.”
- 2012 | Raj Patel, author and activist. “The Global Footprint of Asian Hunger.”
- 2011 | Marilyn Young, Professor of History, New York University. “Limited Wars, Unlimited.”
- 2010 | Tang Hao, Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence; Randolph-Macon College; Associate Professor, South China Normal University. “Sino-U.S. Relations in Competition and Cooperation.”
- 2009 | Matthew Strecher, Assistant Professor of Japanese, Winona State University. “Confessions of a Haruki Murakami Addict.”
- 2008 | Dorothy Ko, Professor of History, Barnard College of Columbia University. “Footbinding and Chinese History.”
- 2007 | Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies, New York University. “Why Kurosawa Now?”
- 2006 | Franklin Odo, Director, Asian Pacific American Program, Smithsonian Institution. “Minimizing Profiling for National Security: Hawaii’s Japanese-Americans During WWII.”
- 2005 | Howard Goldblatt, Research Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, University of Notre Dame. “Contemporary Chinese Fiction.”
- 2004 | Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution. “The Greatest Threat in a Generation? Dealing With a Nuclear North Korea.”
- 2003 | Anne Allison, Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University. “Japanese Monsters in the Era of Millennial Capitalism.”
- 2002 | Henry Chu, Beijing Bureau Chief, Los Angeles Times. “(Un)Covering China: Reporting from the People’s Republic.”
- 2001 | Ki Che Angela Leung, Director of the Sun Yat-sen Institute for Social Science and Philosophy at the Academia Sinica, Taipei. “Philanthropy in Traditional Society: Comparing China and Europe.”
- 2000 | Henry Rosemont Jr., Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. “Confucian Reflections on Freedom, Equality, and Human Rights.”
- 1999 | Wong Gungwu, Director of the East Asia Institute; Professor, National University of Singapore. “Keeping People In or Sending People Out: China’s Historical Dilemma.”
- 1998 | Bernard Fong, Journalist. “Hong Kong, China and America, War or Peace.”
- 1997 | Martin C. M. Lee, Q.C. Barrister and Leader of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong. “Countdown to 1997: The Future of Hong Kong.”
- 1996 | Karen Lang, Director, Center for South Asian Studies, University of Virginia. “Body and Non-Soul: Buddhist Reflections on Morality, Pain, Sexuality, and Personal Identity.”
- 1995 | Willy Wo-Lap Lam, Associate Editor, South China Morning Post. “China after Deng Xiaoping.”
- 1994 | Thelma Chow, instructor of Chinese, Lynchburg College; John Goulde, Associate Professor of Religion, Sweet Briar College; M. Thomas Inge, Blackwell Professor of the Humanities, Randolph-Macon College. “Reading the Red Dragon: Reflections on Chinese Life and Culture.”
- 1993 | Tu Wei-Ming, Professor of Chinese History and Philosophy, Harvard University. “Confucius and Confucianism.”
- 1992 | Takeshi Yamanaka, Professor, Saga University, “Understanding Japanese Characters”; Paul Anderer, Columbia University; “The Uses of the Past in Modern Japanese Fiction.”
- 1991 | Xiang Xianji, graduate student, Columbia University. “Student Democracy Movement in China.”
- 1990 | William Theodore de Bary, Columbia University. “The Asian Classics and the Core Curriculum.”
- 1989 | Yan Si-guang, Beijing, Fulbright Professor at Harvard University and Stanford University. “American Studies in China.”
- 1988 | Bishop K.H. Ting, Nanjing, Chairman, Three-Self Patriotic Movement
- 1987| Joseph Yu-Shek Cheng, Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong. “Recent Developments in Chinese Foreign Policy.”