Dr. Caroline Levine

Professor

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Biography

Caroline Levine has spent her career exploring how the humanities and the arts matter, particularly in the context of democratic societies. She argues that understanding the forms and structures of art is essential for grasping the links between art and society, particularly as a challenge to taking meaningful political action. She is the author of four books, with her most recent work, Activist Humanist: Form and Method in the Climate Crisis (Princeton University Press 2023), building on the theoretical foundation laid in her prior book, Forms: Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network (2015), which won the James Russell Lowell Prize from the Modern Language Association and was named one of Flavorwire's “10 Must-Read Academic Books” of 2015. Levine's earlier publications include The Serious Pleasures of Suspense: Victorian Realism and Narrative Doubt (2003), which received the Perkins Prize for a book on narrative studies, and Provoking Democracy: The Arts of Care (2007). Currently, she serves as the nineteenth-century editor for the Norton Anthology of World Literature and is actively engaged in climate activism, notably achieving a successful push for Cornell University to divest from fossil fuels in 2020. Recently, her writing has focused on literature, precarity, infrastructural justice, and the challenges of anti-instrumentality, emphasizing the role of institutions and sites of social change.

Research Interests

Courses

ENGL 3795: Communicating Climate Change ENGL 4930: Honors Essay Tutorial ENGL 4950: Independent Study ENGL 7940: Directed Study

Requirements for Cornell University

Master Program
Requirements
TOEFL
Listening
Required:15
Reading
Required:20
Writing
Required:20
Speaking
Required:22
Total
Required:100
IELTS
Overall
Required:7
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree in Architecture or related field
Application Checklist
  • Online application
  • Portfolio (SlideRoom)
  • Academic Statement of Purpose
  • Personal Statement
  • Transcripts
  • Two letters of recommendation
  • Resume/CV
Specialization Notes

Department of Architecture