West Lafayette, Indiana, United States
Charles Ross is Emeritus Professor of English, and Director of the Comparative Literature Program at Purdue University. A former Fulbright-Hays Scholar in Italy (1974-75), he specializes in the English Renaissance, the Italian romantic epic, and world literature. He is a former member of the Indian State Bar Association. As a teacher he has won numerous teaching awards for undergraduate and graduate teaching in the Department of English. He has twice been assistant head of the Department of English and served on numerous committees, including the University Committee (for promotion and tenure). He has written or edited ten books and nine special issues of scholarly journals. He has published over fifty articles and thirty book reviews. Grants include support from the National Endowment for the Humanites, the American Philosophical Society, the Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli, the British Institute in Florence, the Romansk Institut at the University of Copenhagen, the Istituto Italiano di Culture in New York, and the Purdue Research Foundation.
Comparative Literature is a graduate degree-granting program, which admits 5-7 students per year. It provides M.A. and Ph.D. degrees for students wishing to study of literature in two or more languages or fields. In 2011 the Program received the highest possible statistical ranking awarded by the National Research Foundation. See http://www.cla.purdue.edu/complit/events/index.html.
Forum for World Literature Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal published three times a year, sponsored by Shanghai Normal University, Purdue University, and Wuhan Institute for the Humanities.
Charles Ross researched and wrote memoranda on various local issues. He and Jack O'Bryan won a major breach of contract case against brought by a parts supplier against the makers of the Hummer. He also worked as an adviser on mediation.