Centers & Workshops

The Center for American Literary Studies (CALS)

Penn State is the historic home of American literary studies. In the early twentieth century, Fred Lewis Pattee became the first English professor in the country to teach classes exclusively devoted to American works. The Penn State Center for American Literary Studies aims to be similarly ground-breaking. Founded in 2006, CALS will advance the study, teaching, and reading of American literature, making Penn State an internationally-recognized source of pioneering work in American literary and cultural studies. More...

The Center for Democratic Deliberation (CDD)

The Center for Democratic Deliberation (CDD) was founded in 2006 as a nonpartisan, interdisciplinary center for research, teaching, and outreach on issues of civic engagement and democratic deliberation.  It is concerned with two of the most basic requirements of a healthy participatory democracy: (1) a citizenry with the knowledge and communicative skills necessary for engaged democratic citizenship; and (2) a culture of vibrant, informed deliberation, where citizens discuss, debate, and render collective decisions on matters of public importance. More...

The Modernist Studies Workshop

The Penn State Modernist Studies Workshop is a group of graduate students in English and Comparative Literature who share an interest in the study of American, Anglo-Irish, and transatlantic modernisms.  Transnational in scope and interdisciplinary in approach, our organization encourages collaboration between MA and PhD students in various sub-specialties of modernist studies. More...

The American Women Writers Workshop

In 1998, several members of the Penn State faculty came together to form the American Women Writers Workshop. The workshop serves as a meeting ground for faculty and graduate students committed to the study of American women writers. More...