The past several years have witnessed a striking number of important developments in Complex Analysis. One of the characteristics of these developments has been to bridge the gap existing between the theory of functions of one and of several complex variables. The Special Year in Complex Analysis at the University of Maryland, and these proceedings, were conceived as a forum where these new developments could be presented and where specialists in different areas of complex analysis could exchange ideas. These proceedings contain both surveys of different subjects covered during the year as well as many new results and insights. The manuscripts are accessible not only to