The medieval and early modern periods are fundamental points of departure for understanding the genealogy of the modern world: its political language and institutions, its religious divisions, its global interconnections, and its cultural preoccupations.

The Stanford Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies is a multidisciplinary umbrella structure designed to give greater visibility, unity, and legibility to the riches of the medieval and early modern at Stanford. As such, CMEMS strives to:

- energize a broad community of affiliates on campus and beyond, reaching out across generations and disciplines to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and librarians working in more than a dozen Departments

- publicize events, courses, news, and library acquisitions

- create content in the form of blogs, curricular and research projects, ad-hoc reading groups. conferences

- coordinate  the activities of several independent research groups

- collect and distribute information on Stanford and Bay-Area events, fellowships and call for papers in monthly newsletters and online

- develop medieval and early modern projects into broader curricular and programmatic contexts

- promote Stanford as the center of a West Coast-based scholarly community of medieval and early modern specialists that is actively rethinking the shape of these fields in light of today's changing educational, technological, and global environments