In the twentieth century, liberal arts college alumni networks operated on a far more intimate scale than they do today. Every time a Colby graduate appeared in a local newspaper, the Alumni Office would clip and file the article almost immediately. Roderick, for his part, maintained a lifelong relationship with Colby that spanned more than seventy years.
A devoted donor throughout his life, he received an honorary degree at Colby’s 1966 commencement, conferred by President Robert E. L. Strider.
Soon after his groundbreaking 1971 trip to Communist China, he returned to Mayflower Hill as a featured Dana Speaker.
In 1986, the College invited him back for an entire semester as a guest lecturer, teaching Colby students a course on “Issues and Personalities in Chinese Foreign Policy” — drawing directly on the personal experiences and relationships he had accumulated across four decades of reporting. When the semester ended, students from the East Asian Studies program wrote him a joint letter asking him to stay, hoping he might return to teach at Colby once again.
