Literature professor to direct research center

Professor of French and comparative literature Eileen Julien has been named the new director of IU’s Institute for Advanced Study.

Julien has been a member of IU’s faculty since 1992, with a career spent exploring and writing about the connections between Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Julien has received many awards and accolades throughout her career, including Guggenheim, Fulbright and Bunting Institute fellowship awards.

She is also the co-founder of the New Orleans Afrikan Film & Arts Festival.

The Institute for Advanced Study, founded in 1981, works to support and encourage new directions of inquiry in all fields, according to an IU press release.

Julien said in a release she looks forward to her new position.

“I am excited about leading the Institute for Advanced Study,” she said. “I look forward to building on the institute’s traditions and developing new initiatives, particularly in support of recently tenured faculty.”

— Carolyn Crowcroft