About the Center
Binghamton University’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CEMERS) is an organized research unit that coordinates and promotes scholarship in medieval and early modern studies in association with a range of departments and programs on campus as well as with a number of scholarly societies in which Binghamton faculty play leading roles. The Center organizes interdisciplinary conferences, lecture series, and workshops and administers undergraduate and graduate programs in Medieval and Early Modern Studies.
CEMERS and the Medieval/Early Modern Studies programs are administered by a director (three-year term, renewable) and a council (two-year term) appointed by the director. The graduate students’ Medieval and Renaissance Group (MRG) organizes activities and appoints a representative to the CEMERS Council. Through its Research Associates program, CEMERS invites independent scholars and faculty from neighboring institutions to participate in the life of the Center and to access the University’s scholarly resources.
To request the status of a CEMERS Research Associate, please submit a letter to CEMERS@binghamton.edu. Please include your Curriculum Vitae as an attachment.
History & Aims
Founded in 1966, CEMERS initially built its international reputation on its contributions to interdisciplinary research on the European Middle Ages and early Renaissance. The Center organized the first of many conferences in 1967 and began publishing their proceedings in 1974 in the journal Acta.
In 1975 CEMERS started publishing the interdisciplinary journal Mediaevalia, which continues to enjoy a circulation world-wide. In 1977, with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, it established the Medieval Studies Program for undergraduates, which allowed Binghamton University students to build an interdisciplinary major or minor under the supervision of the Center’s Director. A Graduate Certificate Program in Medieval Studies was established shortly thereafter. In 1978, the Center launched MRTS, the Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies series which, in association with CEMERS, published over 150 volumes between 1978 and 1996 (see appendix I for full list).
Since the 1980s CEMERS’s interdisciplinary curricula, conference programming, and publications have had a global focus and now move through the early modern period. Drawing on existing strengths at Binghamton University, and in line with the university’s commitment to global perspectives, the Center also fosters collaborative work with other programs and research centers on campus: Judaic Studies, Africana Studies, Asian and Asian American Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies, Women’s Studies, and the Fernand Braudel Center. Its support of pedagogical innovation and research on worldwide colonial formations also encompasses Pre-Columbian and Colonial American history and archaeology.
In expanding it geographic and temporal reach, CEMERS continues its commitment to the high levels of scholarship and learning upon which it was founded over forty years ago.
CEMERS Directors:
Aldo Bernardo and Bernard Huppé, 1966 - 1973
François Boucher and Bernard Huppé, 1973 - 1975
James Marrow and Paul Szarmach, 1975 - 1976
Paul Szarmach, 1976-1986 and 1988 - 1992
Francis X. Newman, 1977-1978 (Acting Director)
Robin Oggins, 1986 – 1988 and 1992 - 1995
Charles Burroughs, 1995 - 2003
Sandro Sticca, 2003 -2006
Karen-edis Barzman, 2006 – present
