Statement of Purpose

Our goal is to make the University of Virginia a leading international center for the scholarship and teaching of American Studies. We want to develop and encourage the work of international scholars working in their home countries, as well as that of American scholars working abroad or in collaboration with international scholars. The International Center for American Studies has three aims. First, we want to bring to the University of Virginia foreign scholars and teachers who will use the resources we have here, such as our extensive holdings in American history and literature in the Special Collections of Alderman Library. Second, we want to develop the digital collections we can make available by means of the new technologies to American Studies specialists abroad. Third, we want to establish a number of connections with international colleagues, through conferences and faculty-student exchanges, in order to broaden and deepen our own awareness of the many ways in which the United States is perceived and understood by people beyond its borders.