Past Events
LCAS Programs 2023-2024
A Hands-On Exploration: Experiencing Buddhism and Hinduism in Washington, D.C.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Ten UMW students and Professors Kalpesh Bhatt (Religious Studies) and Angela Pitts (Classics) went for an educational trip to various Buddhist and Hindu places of worship in and around Washington DC. This immersive experience aimed to explore the lived expressions of religion—unveiling its beliefs, practices, rituals, festivals, and celebrations—while bridging classroom teachings with firsthand encounters.
Indian Music Concert
Thursday, March 21, 5:30 pm | Seacobeck 145
Indian Music Concert “Tunes of Unity: Harmony in India’s Musical Heritage.”
Sadako Sasaki: Cranes for Peace Presentation and Origami Folding Workshop
Wednesday, Oct. 25th, 2023, 6:00 p.m. | Leidecker Center for Asian Studies (James Farmer Hall 107B)
This workshop was led by Origami artist, martial arts instructor, acupuncturist, and UMW Alumnus Kiyoshi Yamamato in recognition of the UN International Day of Peace and Gardens for Peace Initiative. Kiyoshi Yamamato discussed the story of Sadako Sasaki, who lived through the Hiroshima bombing to die of radiation poisoning in 1955 at the age of 12, and how her story inspired the peace symbolism of the origami crane. Participants folded their own origami cranes with Kiyoshi’s instruction.
LCAS Programs 2021-2022
Meditation and the Inner Path of Practice
Miles Kessler Sensei
Friday, September 3, 2021
Gardens for Peace,
in conjunction with the United Nations International Day of Peace
Japanese-American Garden Association
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Bonsai Demonstration & Exhibit
Todd Stewart & Bob Chilton
of Gardens Unlimited, Lady Smith, VA
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Koto Lecture & Recital
Dr. Miyuki Yoshikami
University of Maryland
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
LCAS Programs 2017 – 2018
Wild Words, Living Kyogen:
Traditional Japanese Comedy
Professor Carolyn Morley
Wellesley College
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
LCAS Programs 2016 – 2017
Japan’s Escape from Zombie Capitalism:
Lessons from Anime, Manga and Music
Professor Ian Condry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Monday, April 10, 2017
The U.S. – Japan Alliance:
Key Concepts and Contemporary Issues
Dr. Yukinori Komine
Harvard University
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
The Sound of Zen
Live Concert with Master Musicians
Yodo Kurahashi-sensei and Miyuki Yoshikami-sensei
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Japanese Bonsai Trees: Ancient Art, Modern World
Lecture and Q & A with Bob Chilton and Todd Stewart
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Mindfulness Week
September, 2016
LCAS Programs 2015 – 2016
Mindfulness Week
September, 2015
LCAS Programs 2014 – 2015
The History and Design of Kare San Sui in Zen Monasteries
Shin Abe
March 18, 2015
Cranes of Peace: The Memory and Meaning of Hiroshima’s Trauma
David Janes, U.S. – Japan Foundation
November 14, 2014
The Moral Dimensions of Japanese Aesthetics
Yuriko Saito
October 8, 2014
Japanese Tea Ceremony
Chado Urasenke Tankokai Association of Washington D.C.
October 1, 2014
Contemplative Studies and the Liberal Arts
Hal Roth
September 15, 2014
Mindfulness Week
September, 2014
LCAS Programs 2013 – 2014
Buddhism and Psychotherapy
Mark Unno
April 16, 2014
Koto Music: Cherry Blossoms, the Sea, and Seabirds
April 16, 2014
Risk Reduction in the East China Sea
Sheila Smith
March 24, 2014
Making and Faking Kinship: Marriage and Labor Migration between China and South Korea
Caren Freeman, University of Virginia
November 8, 2013
The challenge of involving communities and citizens in development
Vijayendra Rao, World Bank
co-sponsored by LCAS as part of the Dept. of Political Science Fall Globalization Lecture Series
November 4 2013
Access to New Cancer Drugs: the United States vs. poor cancer patients around the world
James Packard Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International
co-sponsored by LCAS as part of the Dept. of Political Science Fall Globalization Lecture Series
October 16 2013
Mindfulness Week September 30 – October 4, 2013
Co-sponsored with Campus Recreation, The UMW Wellness Program, and Student Affairs. LCAS sponsored events included:
No Mud, No Lotus: An Introduction to Mindfulness Practice
David Ambuel and Angela Pitts
September 30, 2013
Once Dumb, Twice Crazy, Third Time Wise
Documentary Film Showing
David Ambuel
October 2, 2013
Mindfulness and Stress Management – the Practice and the Science
Hugh Byrne
October 2, 2013
LCAS Programs 2012 – 2013
An Afternoon with Indian Documentary Filmmaker
Pankaj Rishi Kumar
In God’s Land
Punches and Ponytails
April 10, 2013
Symposium: Japan – Two Years after the 3/11 Earthquake and Tsunami
April 5, 2013:
– Aftershocks: Political and Social Reverberations of Fukushima and other Recent Earthquakes in Japan
Prof. Steve Rabson, Professor Emeritus, Brown University
Sichuan 2008, Fukushima 3/11 and Sino-Japanese Relations
Susan Fernsebner, Professor of History, University of Mary Washington
Live Performance of Traditional Japanese Koto Music
Miyuki Yoshikami
Live Your Dream
Documentary Film by Regge Life centering on the life of Virginia native Taylor Anderson, one of the two Americans to die in the tsunami at Fukushima, where she taught English after graduating from Randolph-Macon College. The film features interviews of local residents, including her students, and of her family who describe her lifelong interest in Japan and her adjustments–sometimes humorous–to living there.
Buddhist Nuns in the 21st Century
guest lecture by Alison Melnick, University of Virginia
March 27, 2013
Disclosing Divine Forms?
guest lecture by Andrew Guffey
March 18, 2013
Film: Once Dumb, Twice Crazy, Third Time Wise: A Tale of Buddhist Pilgrimage
David Ambuel
March 13, 2013
Whatever happened to comrade? Gender mainstreaming, training and development in Vietnam
guest lecture by Kristy Kelly, Drexel University
Nov. 13, 2012
(co-sponsored with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Department of Political Science as part of their globalization lecture series.)
LCAS Programs 2011 – 2012
Korean Film: Jean Woo Chi
the story of Jean Woo-chi, a Taoist from the Joseon era, who ends up in present day Korea, causing mayhem with his knack for magic
Nov. 1, 2011
When Lineage Speaks: Personal and Scholarly Reflections on Buddhist Monkhood
Wijitha Bandera
University of Virginia
October 27, 2011
WHEN ROME FACED EAST lecture series fall 2011
Ancient Roman Contacts with South and South East Asia
Dr. Sethuraman Suresh, Fulbright Senior Research Fellow, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC
Wed. Sept. 7, 2011
Roman Coin Finds in India and Sri Lanka
Dr. Sethuraman Suresh, Fulbright Senior Research Fellow, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC
Thurs. Sept. 8, 2011
The Site of Berenike in Roman Egypt and its Maritime Trade Connections with the East
Dr. Steven Sidebotham, Professor of History, University of Delaware
Thurs. Sept. 22, 2011
Rome vs. Parthia: The Cold War that Never Was
Dr. Rose Mary Sheldon, Professor of History, Virginia Military Institute
Thurs. Oct. 27, 2011
Trading Equality for Talent: The Troubled Turn in Korean K-12 Education
Dr. Hyunjoon Park, Associate Professor of Sociology and Education at the University of Pennsylvania
September 28, 2011