CEAS alum and journalist Leta Hong Fincher to speak at CEAS/EALC departmental commencement ceremony

The Center for East Asian Studies and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures are excited to announce that CEAS alum, journalist, and scholar Leta Hong Fincher will be the keynote speaker at our joint Departmental Commencement Ceremony on June 14, 2026!

Leta received her master's degree in East Asian Studies from Stanford University in 1992 after graduating from Harvard University magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in East Asian Languages and Civilizations. She is the first American to receive a Ph.D. from Tsinghua University's Department of Sociology in Beijing. She is currently a Research Associate at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University.

Leta has written for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Dissent Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and others. As a long-time TV and radio journalist based in China, she won the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award, the Cowan Award for Humanitarian Reporting and other journalism honors. The newly released, 10th anniversary edition of Leta's book, Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China, was named one of the five best books to understand modern China by The Guardian in 2024 and one of the best books of 2023 by China Books Review. Leta’s other book, Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China, was named one of the best books of 2018 by Vanity Fair, Newsweek, Foreign Policy Interrupted, Bitch Media and Autostraddle; it was also a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” pick. 

(Photo courtesy of Francesca Leonardi)