About Our Center

 

Understanding the hopes and problems of the 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 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.  The European Studies Center encourages such interdisciplinary thinking.

The European Studies Center (ESC) was established in 1984 and is charged with the university-wide responsibility of coordinating and developing scholarship and teaching related to Europe. The Center promotes the study of Europe at the University of Pittsburgh by developing new courses, lectures, symposia, and conferences with international participants. Center research foci include comparative public policy, social and intellectual history, multiculturalism in Europe, questions of identity, and Europe's historical and contemporary role in the world.

The ESC is one of six international and area studies centers within the University Center for International Studies (UCIS), identified by the Council on Learning as one of the exemplary international studies programs in the United States. The Center offers Certificates in European Union Studies and West European Studies that enhance students’ overall academic achievements and degree programs. Through its outreach efforts, the Center also builds relationships within the University community, the business community, policy-makers, and community organizations

A constituent part of the European Studies Center, the Jean Monnet European Union Center of Excellence (JMEUCE), promotes the study of the EU, its institutions and policies and EU-US relations through teaching programs, scholarly research and outreach activities in their local and regional communities.  The JMEUCE was established in 1998, when the University of Pittsburgh won a national competition to host a European Union Center.  Since 1998, the University of Pittsburgh has been successful in each renewal competition, to be one of only ten European Union Centers of Excellence in the United States.

This website has been funded with the assistance of the European Union.  The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of the ESC and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
 

Funding provided by the International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office of the U.S. Department of Education.