A Message From Dr. Alberta Sbragia, Chair, Faculty Advisory Board

Understanding the hopes and problems of Europe and the European Union in the twenty-first century requires an awareness of the achievements and disasters that Europe has undergone in earlier centuries. It also requires an appreciation of how identities and cultures were established, how collective memory has developed, and how history has shaped current political and economic issues in European integration. Contemporary Europe can be best understood by exploring how history, culture, law, politics, and economics intersect. Two centers at the University of Pittsburgh encourage such interdisciplinary thinking – the European Union Center of Excellence (EUCE) and European Studies Center (ESC) forming the EUCE/ESC.

The intellectual capacity of the EUCE/ESC is based on its faculty and students in a wide variety of academic departments and professional schools supported by the extensive research capabilities of an outstanding library and archive. These are enhanced by the presence of the European Union Studies Association housed at the University of Pittsburgh. The ESC provides an intellectual home for those interested in culture and identity, languages, religion, history, and philosophy in addition to business, law, and the social sciences. The European Union Center of Excellence is one of eleven centers designated as such and funded by the European Commission. It highlights issues of applied public policy and the process of European political, economic, and legal integration. The EUCE regularly hosts prominent visitors, including ambassadors and leading policy makers.

Drawing on the resources of the EUCE/ESC, both undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh are able to learn about Europe from a linguistic, literary, artistic, historical, economic, political, sociological, legal and public policy perspective. Most important, they are able to examine linkages among these perspectives in creative and unusual ways. Using the resources of the European Studies Center, the European Union Center of Excellence, and the University they can deepen a specialized knowledge while broadening intellectual questions. In addition, students with an interest in Europe’s wider role in the world can draw on the resources of the Center for Russian and East European Studies (REES), a Title VI Center, and the Ridgeway Center for Security Studies. Close cooperation with both centers provides students focusing on EU enlargement, NATO, or EU-NATO relations an extraordinary range of faculty, library, and electronic resources. As the former director of both the European Union Center of Excellence and European Studies Center, I am delighted to take this opportunity to welcome you.

PROFESSOR ALBERTA SBRAGIA

Vice-Provost for Graduate Studies
Advisor and Former Director, European Union Center of Excellence Director, European Studies Center
Jean Monnet Chair ad personam, UCIS Research Professor of Political Science