Because our graduate students work across various departments, they are especially eager to define a sense of place centered in Comparative Literature. The annual Comparative Literature Intra-Student and Faculty Forum (CLIFF) is entirely initiated and sustained by students. CLIFF is now in its 28th year, a sign of a thriving intellectual community; each year the conference has involved a greater number of participants, and every year the organization of the conference has been more professional, more ambitious, and broader in scope. Comp Lit graduate students are also actively involved as guest editors and managing editors for our departmental journal, Absinthe: World Literature in Translation. In addition, many students are involved in coordinating Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshops to exchange work in progress and meet with faculty and visiting speakers on topics of interest across departments.
