the Center's past

The Center for 21st Century Studies is one of the oldest humanities centers in the United States, founded in 1968. During its thirty-five years of existence, it has compiled an impressive record of major events, including conferences, screenings, performances, and readings, often on topics and by participants whose importance was already clear, but just as often on topics and by participants whose importance would only strike the rest of the world later. When she spoke at UWM under the Center's auspices in 1982, Grace Paley was already famous. When she performed at the Center in 1977, Laurie Anderson was not yet.

On one hand, it would be absurd to question the pervasiveness of "modernism" in western culture in 1986. On the other hand, what other institution thought to offer an entire series of research seminars that year under the rubric, "Rewriting Modernism," with such distinguished participants as Alice Jardine, Martin Jay, Frederic Jameson, Hans Robert Jauss, and Jean-François Lyotard?

In keeping with its tradition of rethinking the humanities, the Center looks forward to increased use of its web site for various purposes, including documentation of our history. Please click the links below for more information about previous Center activities.

photos from Center events from 2002 to current

highlights from the 1970s, '80s, and '90s

newsletters

Center Fellows since 1974

Center for 21st Century Studies

Daniel J. Sherman, Director