His work has focused on Occitan Studies and on Franco-British literary relations.
Calin has served on the editorial advisory boards of the journals Olifant, Tenso, Studies in Medievalism, Escrituras, and Medievally Speaking, and was guest editor for a special issue of L’Ésprit Créateur on “The Future of Old French Studies.” His grants and honors include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1963–64) as well as grants from the American Council of Learned Societies (1963–1964; 1968; 1996–1997), the American Philosophical Society (1970), the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (1981), the Fulbright Commission (1982), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (1984–1985, 1987–1988).
[1] Calin's publications span topics from nine centuries and the literary and linguistic traditions of hegemonic France as well as the minority literatures of Scots, Breton, and Occitan.
[4] In 2011, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, Calin was recognized by a conference section ("Makers of the Middle Ages: Papers in Honor of William Calin") at the 46th International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University.
During the session, he was presented with a Festschrift, Cahier Calin: Makers of the Middle Ages.