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 & 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, and one or two from the UW System campuses, is selected to be in residence. Moreover, the Center offers a Provost's Fellowship in the Humanities, an annual fellowship for faculty located beyond UWM and the UWM System, and, on occasion, we house scholars from other institutions and independent scholars for externally funded postdoctoral and summer fellowships.

The theme for 2009-11 is Figuring Place & Time.

The Center is located on the top floor of Curtin Hall, a nine-storey building that houses most of the humanities departments at UWM and overlooks Lake Michigan and downtown Milwaukee. In addition to a suite of offices for Center fellows (each fellow has his or her own office) and Center staff, a conference room hosts meetings of Center fellows and smaller research seminars. Public lectures and screenings take place on the ground floor of Curtin Hall and elsewhere around campus.