Comparative Literature at Penn State

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Congratulations to Gabeba Baderoon, associate professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; African studies; and comparative literature at Penn State, on an incredible achievement—being named a 2024–25 Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow! 🎉 During the fellowship, Gabeba will work on writing her memoir that details her experience with a concussion, titled “Autobiography of Sand: Relief Map of a Drifting Mind.” Learn more ➡ bit.ly/hrifGB

“Concussion is a puzzling and intractable illness, which therefore poses an interesting representational challenge,” she said. “To write about it, I am drawing on a diverse archive that includes research on traumatic brain injury, memoirs of illness, colonial diaries of the Cape, images of an abandoned landscape, personal medical records and the creative journals I could not write for three years after my concussion.”

Penn State Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Penn State Department of African American Studies
Comparative Literature at Penn State

Congratulations to Sydney Burns, our spring 2024 Comparative Literature major marshal! 👏 bit.ly/sp24CLA

Sydney is the daughter of Angela and William Burns of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. A Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar, she is graduating with bachelor of arts degrees in Comparative Literature and English and a minor in Greek. Sydney is the recipient of the 2022 John W. Moore, Jr. Undergraduate Award in English, the 2022 Samuel P. Bayard Award, and the 2022 President Walker Award. She also received the 2023 Agnes Kennedy Tiley Scholarship, the 2022 Martha Conner Memorial Award, and the 2022 Benjamin Cantwell Memorial Scholarship in the College of the Liberal Arts. At Penn State, Sydney was a Center for American Literary Studies intern for the Department of English, an outreach intern for the Department of Comparative Literature, a writing peer tutor for the Writing Center at Penn State Learning, and president of the Comparative Literature Club for two consecutive years. After graduation, Sydney will attend the University of Cambridge, pursuing a master of philosophy degree in English studies. 🎓

“The liberal arts college at Penn State demands a high level of dedication, intellectual curiosity, and scholarly discipline.” 🎉

Penn State Center for American Literary Studies
Comparative Literature at Penn State
Paterno Fellows Program
Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies - Penn State
Penn State Alumni Association

Congratulations to Carollynn Stefanko, our spring 2024 Asian Studies major marshal! 👏 bit.ly/sp24CLA

Carollynn is the daughter of Emily and Brian Stefanko of Poulsbo, Washington. She is graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in Asian Studies with minors in Korean and World Literature. Carollynn worked abroad in the summer of 2022 in Seoul, South Korea, as a marketing and business intern for CRCC Asia. After graduation, Carollynn will move abroad to South Korea to teach English in preparation for applying to graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in Asian studies and literature. 🎓

“The education I received at Penn State has helped me gain crucial critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and problem-solving abilities that will help me both professionally and personally.” 🎉

Comparative Literature at Penn State
Penn State Global
Penn State Alumni Association

We are pleased to announce the publication of CLS 60.4, with contributions from Haomin Gong, Leo Tak-hung Chan and Jindan Ni, Choi-kit Yeung, Xiaofan Amy Li, Katharine Ann Jensen, Roxanne Covelo, and others.

You can access and read our latest issue here: https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/cls/issue/60/4

Are you interested in participating in Comparative Literature Studies's Annual Paper Competition for Graduate Students and publishing in our top-tier journal? If you're a graduate student enrolled in a comparative literature or comparative studies program and have a scholarly article/paper, written in English, on a comparative topic that addresses texts in more than one language, consider applying to the ACLA-sponsored A. Owen Aldridge Prize.
For submissions and inquiries, please email [email protected].

For Graduate students! The pedagogy workshop will include food and discussion on effective teaching strategies. We hope to see you there!