Abstract: I will give an overview of recent developments in the study of Hodge-theoretic aspects of Alexander-type invariants associated with smooth complex algebraic varieties. Our results are motivated by (and can be regarded as global analogues of) similar statements for the Milnor fiber cohomology of complex hypersurface singularity germs. (Joint work with E. Elduque, C. Geske, M. Herradon-Cueto and B. Wang).