Wellesley College established the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures in July 2003, bringing together the former Chinese and Japanese Departments under one roof. The new department grew out of the College's recognition of the importance of dialogue across national borders and disciplines. With the addition of Korean language and literatures in 2005-2006, EALL will offer a comprehensive program in the languages and cultures of East Asia.

The first courses on China were taught at Wellesley College by Professor Paul Cohen in the History Department, and he advocated that the College bring in someone to teach the Chinese language. In 1966, Helen Lin joined Wellesley College to teach basic courses in Chinese language. At that time, there was no department to house her, so Prof. Lin's office was located in a small room at the top of Green Hall -- one that had a telephone but no desk. The first Chinese language courses were listed as extradepartmental, but in the course of the next three years, Prof. Lin laid the groundwork for more advanced courses. In 1969, the Chinese Program was established, and was converted in 1970 into a full-fledged department. The departmental major in Chinese language and literature was approved in 1985, and since then, the faculty have increased its offerings in the Chinese language at all levels, survey courses on classical and modern literary history and film, and advanced seminars on a range of literary topics from women's writings to the literature of the Chinese diaspora.

Professor James Kodera of the Religion Department taught the first courses on Japan at Wellesley in the late 1970s. Spurred on by growing interest in Japan during the 1980s, and with the support of Prof. Kodera and other East Asian Studies faculty, the College began to offer courses in the Japanese language in the early 1980s. The hire of Carolyn Morley in 1985 signaled a serious commitment on the part of the College to formalizing a curriculum in the Japanese language, and in 1986, the Japanese Program was created. Over the course of the next decade, the teaching of Japanese language and culture thrived at Wellesley, culminating in the 1995 decision to establish the Japanese Department. Today, the Japanese faculty offers language courses at all levels, as well as a wide range of survey and thematic courses on gender and popular culture, anime, classical and modern literature, theater, and film.