Established in September 2019, the British and American Literature Research Center of the School of Foreign Studies in Hefei University of Technology (HFUT) is a group of teachers who take British and American literature as their main research interest and orientation. The work of the center is guided by the literary research concept that “the literature changes depending on the progress of the society, and the rise and fall are related to the development of the time”, with the guiding principle of building an academic platform for British and American literature research and idea exchanges, setting up a professional academic research team working on the study of English literature, clarifying and defining the research orientation, and creating a favorable environment for academic discussions. The purpose of setting up this center is to prosper the academic activities of the school, push forward the development of the discipline, and enhance the teaching and research of the school. This center boasts a strong team of teachers who are in a reasonable age structure with profound academic backgrounds and a broad scholarly vision. With the growth of the research team, more outcomes have been produced.
Basic academic activities of the center:
1. Study of literary theories
2. Recommendation and discussion of excellent Chinese and foreign academic works
3. Forums on classical and contemporary writers
4. Study and discussion on excellent and high quality academic papers
5. Scheduling teachers' research and professional progress
6. Sharing experience of teachers who have passed the entrance examination for doctoral programs, the life and study during their pursuit for doctoral degrees, or during their academic visits or advanced studies abroad
7. Sharing and studying the successful experience of other universities in their research of British and American literature
8. Management of the center’s academic exchange-oriented QQ Group
Composition and achievements of the academic team
The center presently comprises 25 member teachers, primarily under the age of 50, with young and middle-aged teachers as the backbone of the team. Of the members, six are associate professors, six doctors or doctorate candidates, and two postgraduate supervisors. The doctorates the teachers acquired were from prominent domestic universities, such as Beijing Normal University, Nanjing University, Shanghai International Studies University and Fudan University. Moreover, most of them worked as visiting scholars in Europe and the United States. In terms of professional titles, educational backgrounds and learning origin of the teachers, the structures are comparatively well proportioned. The teachers of the center are currently leading several provincial and ministerial-listed research projects. The core academic journals the teachers have published papers and research outcomes include Foreign Languages Research, Contemporary Foreign Literature, Theater Arts (Journal of Shanghai Theatre Academy), Foreign Literatures, New Perspectives on World Literature, Journal of Anhui University, and Journal of Xi'an International Studies University.
Planning for future academic research
In accordance with the overall objectives and tasks of the university, and the development plan of the School of Foreign Studies, the center has formulated a multi-level, daily activity implementation plan, with the specific items as follows:
1. Carrying out academic lectures and creating a good atmosphere for learning, discussion and communication, with associate professors as leading figures supported by lecturers. At the same time, the center will invite scholars from cooperative universities to participate in comments or lectures, so as to promote peer exchanges and expand the influence of the foreign language discipline of Hefei University of Technology.
2. Carrying out daily exchange activities focusing on paper writing and publishing, so as to facilitate lecturers to determine medium- and long-term research orientations and make progress in paper or monograph writing. In this respect, lecturers are key players, with the help of associate professors. Meanwhile, the center encourages lecturers to organize study and activity groups to carry out grouped studies on literary theories and intensive reading of original foreign works.
3. Carrying out Chinese and foreign classical literature reading on campus and letting more students know them. This campus activity will be joined in by all members of the center, with broad participation of the students from the School of Foreign Studies and other schools of the university. In this way, this center can make more contributions to the building of an active and healthy campus culture, enhance the image of the teachers of the School of Foreign Studies, and help them play a more important role in teaching and ideological and political education.
4. Hosting academic reports, forums, and seminars related to British and American literature either offline or online, strengthening communication and interaction between the teachers of the center and some first-class professors, scholars both at home and abroad, and pushing forward the teaching career and academic progress of the member teachers. Furthermore, the center will boost its research level in this area, and enhance the image of HFUT's foreign language discipline in the academic community.
5. Giving full play to the center as an incubator for academic research achievements, a catalyst for academic interactions, and a booster for research progress, featuring unity, synergy and hard working.
Leaders of the center
Director: ZHANG Hao
Deputy Director: WEI Qing
Deputy Director: LIU Yang