The Anis K. Makdisi Program in Literature promotes and supports an interdisciplinary dialogue and an openness to different cultural forms and traditions in the study of literature, in keeping with the approaches elaborated in the work of Anis K. Makdisi. The aim of this transformative program is to encourage and develop literary and humanistic studies at  AUB and to foster intellectual exchange among members of different departments, their students, and visiting scholars.

There are four primary activities of the Anis K. Makdisi Program in Literature:

1. To host an annual Anis K. Makdisi memorial lecture by a leading literary scholar or a noted author of poetry or prose, and to publish this lecture following its presentation.
2. To offer a seminar series on various topics concerning literary and cultural studies. The primary aim of the seminars will be to enrich the study and teaching of literature at AUB by providing  focal point for discussion of a significant topic or theme. Scholars, writer, and artists will be invited from inside and outside the University to offer weeklong seminars.
3. To host informal gatherings (lectures, discussions, colloquia) thereby providing a venue for collegial scholarly dialogue for the academic communities of Beirut.
4. To offer (with the assistant of the university) two students scholarships each year:
   i. The Anis K. Makdisi Graduate Fellowship to support graduate studies in literature at AUB.
   ii.The Anis K. Makdisi Scholarship in Literature for undergraduate studies.