Society for Utopian Studies

The Society for Utopian Studies (founded 1975) is a North American interdisciplinary association devoted to the study of utopianism in all its forms, with a particular emphasis on literary and experimental utopias.

Publications
The Society publishes Utopian Studies, an international triannual peer-reviewed journal, containing scholarly articles on a wide range of subjects related to utopias, utopianism, utopian literature, utopian theory, and intentional communities. The journal's founding editor was Lyman Tower Sargent.

It also publishes a regular newsletter, Utopus Discovered.

Conferences
The Society has organized a series of annual conferences:


 * 2023: Austin, Texas


 * 2022: Charleston, South Carolina.


 * 2021: The 2021 conference was scheduled to be held at Austin, Texas, but was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * 2020: The 2020 conference was scheduled to be held at Charleston, South Carolina, but was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * 2019: Michigan State University, East Lansing.
 * 2018: Berkeley, California.
 * 2017: Memphis, Tennessee.
 * 2016: St Petersburg, FL.
 * 2015: Pittsburgh, PA.
 * 2014: Montréal, Québec.
 * 2013: College of Charleston, South Carolina.
 * 2012: Toronto, Ontario.
 * 2011: Stage College, PA.
 * 2010: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
 * 2009: Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.
 * 2008: Portland, Maine.
 * 2007: Toronto, Ontario.
 * 2006: Colorado Springs, Colorado.
 * 2005: Memphis, Tennessee.
 * 2004: Toronto, Ontario.
 * 2003: San Diego, California.
 * 2002: Orlando, Florida.
 * 2001: Buffalo, NY.
 * 2000: Vancouver, B.C.
 * 1999: San Antonio, Texas.
 * 1997: Memphis, Tennessee.
 * 1996: Nashville, Tennessee.
 * 1995: Toronto, Ontario.
 * 1994: Toronto, Ontario.
 * 1993: University of Missouri-St Louis.
 * 1992: Baltimore, Maryland
 * 1991: Las Vegas, Nevada.
 * 1990: Lexington, KY.
 * 1989: Asilomar Conference Ctr., Pacific Grove, California.
 * 1988: Emerson College, Boston, Mass.
 * 1987: Pennsylvania State University, Delaware County.
 * 1986: Asilomar Conference Ctr., Pacific Grove, California.
 * 1985: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
 * 1984: University of Missouri-St Louis.
 * 1983: Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
 * 1982: University of New Brunswick.
 * 1981: Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg.
 * 1980: Pennsylvania State University.
 * 1979: University of Colorado-Denver.
 * 1978: Pennsylvania State University.
 * 1977: University of Michigan.
 * 1976: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.

The 2024 conference is scheduled to be held in Tulum, Mexico.

Awards
The Society sponsors a number of awards:


 * The Arthur O. Lewis Award for the best paper by a younger scholar.
 * The Eugenio Battisti Award for the best article in the previous year's Utopian Studies.
 * The Kenneth M. Roemer Innovative Course Design Award for innovative course design in utopian studies.
 * The Larry E. Hough Distinguished Service Award.
 * The Lyman Tower Sargent Award for Distinguished Scholarship.

The Lyman Tower Sargent Award for Distinguished Scholarship
Recipients:


 * 2017: Phillip E. Wegner
 * 2013: Vita Fortunati and Darko Suvin
 * 2012: Ruth Levitas
 * 2010: Ursula K. Le Guin and Peter Fitting
 * 2009: Fredric Jameson
 * 2008: Tom Moylan and Ken Roemer
 * 2002: Gregory Claeys
 * 1997: Lyman Tower Sargent