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Center for Literary and Comparative Studies

UMD English’s hub for intellectual exchange in creative writing, English language, rhetorical, and literary studies, the Center for Literary and Comparative Studies helps faculty, staff, and students share ideas with one another and the world.

The Center showcases the research and creative activities of the department as well as helps develop new knowledge in literary and comparative studies. It actively promotes collaboration with other departments and programs, such as the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures; classics; American studies; and the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. In this way, the Center serves as a focal point within the University of Maryland for cross-disciplinary dialogue in the humanities.

In 2023-2024, the Center turns to a consideration of Displacements and continues to build on the previous three years' Antiracism Initiative and commitment to the public humanities. CLCS continues its support of the Department's CAARES efforts.

We remain committed to supporting the work of emerging, early-, and mid-career scholars and teachers, with a particular emphasis on welcoming BIPOC and BAME scholars and teachers in the US and abroad. We envisage that these events will draw audiences from the University of Maryland and beyond.

The Department of English opposes all forms of bias, racial injustice and oppression. All students, faculty and staff are critical to our educational mission as we strive to ensure that every member of the community is actively engaged in creating an inclusive and respectful culture in the classroom, in work spaces and at all department events. The Department stands with Black Lives Matter, Stop AAPI Hate, and other organizations dedicated to social justice for all.

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#CAARESUMD

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#CLCS_UMD

Mission

The Center serves as a hub for research, academic programming and creative endeavor for the English department and Comparative Literature Program in cooperation with the larger campus, surrounding institutions and the general public.

The activities of the center are designed to foster an intellectually engaged community of scholars—undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, lecturers, faculty and staff—who work collaboratively to promote literary study, comparative studies and the humanities in general as a framework for knowledge and action.

Vision

  • fosters the advancement of multidisciplinary and collaborative scholarship in the humanities;
  • offers opportunities for exchanges among students, alumni, lecturers, faculty, staff and members of the general public;
  • serves as a laboratory for the incubation of new ideas, daring scholarship and creative activities;
  • supports on-going projects and professional development;
  • honors accomplishments in teaching, research and creative work;
  • facilitates encounters among constituencies that do not otherwise have sustained contact with one another;
  • consolidates and extends the global perspective on teaching and scholarship characteristic of the English department and in concert with the university’s strategic plan.
  • The center, through co-sponsorships and a twice-yearly call for proposals, offers financial support for initiatives that correspond to its mission.

Grants/Awards

The Center supports three separate ongoing grants programs:

In addition, in 2023-2024, the Center continues to support CLCS Awards in the Public Humanities

Protocols for AY 2023-24 are available here to help you plan and administer your events. If you require assistance, contact Karen Nelson, knelson@umd.edu.

Events Series

The Center sponsors or cosponsors a number of reading groups and annual lecture and film series.

Conferences

Explore past and upcoming conferences and symposia organized or supported by the Center for Literary and Comparative Studies. 

Learn more about conferences.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee for 2023-2024 for the Center for Literary and Comparative Studies includes:

Contact Us

Emma Bailey

Graduate Student, English
Graduate Assistant, Center for Literary and Comparative Studies

Karen Nelson

Director, Center for Literary and Comparative Studies, English
Classics

2120B Tawes Hall
College Park MD, 20742

(301) 405-3185

Harley Nguyen

Graduate Student, English
Graduate Assistant, Center for Literary and Comparative Studies

Sangeeta Ray

Director, Center for Literary and Comparative Studies, English
Professor of English and Comparative Literature, English
Affiliate Professor, The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

3014059647