Ross Shideler and Kathleen Komar

Dr. Kathleen L. Komar is a distinguished professor of Comparative Literature who has taught at UCLA for over 40 years. She earned her doctorate in comparative literature from Princeton University, is a recipient of UCLA’s Distinguished Teaching Award and chaired the UCLA Academic Sentate. She also studied abroad at the Universities of Bonn and Freiburg.

Ross Shideler, a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching award and a former Associate Dean of the Graduate Division, is currently Associate Dean, Academic Personnel, and a Research Professor. After finishing his MA at the University of Stockholm, he went to Berkeley to complete his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature with an emphasis on 19th & 20th century Swedish, French, and American literature.

“We give to support the study of languages and literature at UCLA because we need to understand other cultures and traditions now more than ever.”