Harvard’s enduring engagement with Asia has shaped scholarly inquiry, public policy, and campus life—within the University and across the region. This two-day conference convenes faculty, students, alumni, and institutional partners from across Schools and disciplines to examine the evolving relationship between Harvard and Asia from the late nineteenth century to the present and to consider paths forward.

Through a series of presentations, the program revisits formative encounters, collaborations, and institutional linkages; recognizes the contributions of Asian students, scholars, and visitors who have transformed fields and enriched the University; and offers an assessment of Harvard’s roles in U.S. policy, development, and institution-building in Asia, acknowledging both contributions and consequences.

Looking ahead, the conference asks how Harvard can advance more inclusive, equitable, and regionally balanced approaches to the study of Asia and to University engagement with the region—strengthening partnerships, deepening interdisciplinary research and teaching, and enhancing public impact.

Registration is not required but appreciated for planning purposes.

Day 1: Thursday, November 13, 2025
Belfer Case Study Room (S020),CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street

4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. 
Welcome and Opening Reflections
Michael Puett, Victor and William Fung Foundation Director, Harvard University Asia Center; Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology, FAS; Harvard College Professor

Opening Panel 
“Harvard’s Japan Encounter”
Susan J. Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Research Professor of Japanese Politics, FAS, Harvard University
“Harvard and Asia: Brief Encounters, Abiding Relationships”
Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, FAS, Harvard University 

Traditional Sumatran Dance Performance 
Presented by Harvard Indonesian Students Association 

Reception
Concourse Area, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street
 

Day 2: Friday, November 14, 2025
Belfer Case Study Room (S020),CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street

8:15 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.                  
Distinguished Visitors: Asian Intellectuals and Public Figures at Harvard  
Moderator: Shigehisa Kuriyama, Reischauer Institute Professor of Cultural History; Director, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies; Interim Chair in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, FAS; and Faculty Director for the Humanities, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Panelists:  
“Imperfect Encounters: South Asians and Harvard in the Early 20th Century” 
Mou Banerjee, Assistant Professor of History, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Ph.D. in History, Harvard University
“Repurposing the ‘Civilizing Mission’: A Japanese Sinologist at Harvard, 1915–1916”
Yan Yu, Associate Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Visiting Scholar, Harvard History Department, FAS
“Kissing Harvard Goodbye: The Cold War Considerations of Lee Kuan Yew’s American Visits”
Eugene Chua, Harvard College Student 

10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Break 

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.                  
Pioneers and Pathways: Asian Student Experiences at Harvard 
Moderator: Sun Joo Kim, Harvard-Yenching Professor of Korean History, FAS, Harvard University 
Panelists: 
“Shared Paths, Unique Stories: Harvard’s Korean Alumni”
Sujin Elisa Han, Ph.D. candidate in History and East Asian Languages, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
Title Forthcoming
Mui Poopoksakul, Independent Literary Translator, Berlin; Harvard College Graduate 
“The Earliest Asian Women at Radcliffe College” 
Shayna Leng, Harvard College Student 
“’Democratizing Monarch?’ Harvard in the Himalaya and King Birendra at Harvard”
Kashish Bastola, Harvard College Student  

12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Lunch 

1:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.          
Harvard’s Engagement in U.S. Policy towards Asia 
Moderator: Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, FAS, Harvard University
Panelists:   
“Making Subjects of Subjects: Harvard and the Transnational Project of U.S. Colonial Education in the Philippine”
Eleanor Wikstrom, M.Sc. in Social Science of the Internet, Oxford Internet Institute, University  of Oxford; Harvard College Graduate  
“Harvard Eugenicists and Immigration Restriction in the U.S.”
Erika Lee, Bae Family Professor of History, FAS and the Faculty Director of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard University
“A Cold War Redux in Asia: Harvard’s Legacy and Role” 
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS) and Associate Professor of International Political Economy, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
“Harvard and the Vietnam War: Contestation vs. Support”
Nghia Nguyen, Harvard College Student 

2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Break 

3:00 p.m. – 4:50 p.m.                     
Harvard’s Asian Futures: Rethinking Institutional Legacies and Regional Engagement

Moderator: Jay Rosengard, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School 
Panelists:  
“Studying China at Harvard in the 1960s”
Joseph Esherick, Emeritus Professor of Modern Chinese History, University of California, San Diego
“Impact Taking Many Forms”
Bill Alford, Jerome A. and Joan L. Cohen Professor of Law; Director, East Asian Legal Studies Program; Chair, Harvard Law School Project on Disability
“Exporting Expertise: Institutionalizing Planning Education in Southeast Asia”
Robin Albrecht, MArch Candidate, Department of Architecture, Harvard  University Graduate School of Design  
“Recovering Voices: Using Museum Collections to Address Institutional Histories”
Ingrid Ahlgren, Curator for Oceanic Collections, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, FAS, Harvard University; Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History
“Harvard and the Study of Southeast Asia”
Michael Puett, Victor and William Fung Foundation Director, Harvard University Asia Center; Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and AnthropologyFAS; Harvard College Professor 

4:50 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.            
Closing Acknowledgement
Rachelle Walsh, Executive Director, Asia Center, FAS, Harvard University    

Co-sponsored by the Asia Center, the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Korea Institute, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.