The Center for 21st Century Studies, a UW System Center of Excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, is a postdoctoral research institute founded in 1968 to foster cross-disciplinary research in the humanities. Supported by the College of Letters and Science and The Graduate School, the Center seeks to promote discussion of topics of compelling interest to us today. The Center has long been a leader in the study of modern and contemporary culture, including film, performance, the visual arts, and everyday life, as well as in critical reflection in such areas as feminism, media theory, multiculturalism, postcolonialism, cultural and social theory, and lesbian and gay studies. We do not, however, limit our inquiries to the contemporary world, recognizing that the exploration of the historical, political, and social dimensions of contemporary problems, including race, class, gender, sexuality, and conflict, can only enhance our understanding of them.

Each year the Center designates a theme that lends itself to multidisciplinary study as the subject for its research. A group of some six to eight fellows from different departments and disciplines at UWM is selected to be in residence. The Center also regularly welcomes fellows from other UW system campuses, and, on occasion, scholars from other institutions and independent scholars for externally funded postdoctoral and summer fellowships.