Larry Neal Prize for Excellence in EU Scholarship Awarded to Professor Carolyn Ban; Honorable Mention to Professors DeBardeleben and Viju

Professor Carolyn Ban

CHAMPAIGN – The European Union Center at the University of Illinois is pleased to announce that Professor Carolyn Ban is the 2013 recipient of the Larry Neal Prize for Excellence in EU Scholarship, for her book Management and Culture in an Enlarged European Commission: From Diversity to Unity?, published by Palgrave Macmillan. Professor Ban’s book was nominated by the European Union Center of Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh. The Larry Neal Prize was initiated by the EU Center at Illinois to recognize excellent research conducted by affiliated faculty of the EU Centers of Excellence located throughout the United States and Canada.

As the book description reads, “Carolyn Ban breaks new ground by analyzing the European Commission from a public management perspective. Based on extensive interviews conducted over six years, it explores how the European Commission faced the challenge of enlargement, how it recruited and socialized thousands of new staff members, and its success in integrating newcomers. It argues that nationality was less important in understanding the newcomers than expected and,
conversely, that gender was more important than expected, as one of the major effects of enlargement was to shift the organization's gender balance. It includes an analysis of language use and language politics as an important part of organizational culture. The work provides a lively and readable picture of life within the Commission. Melding management with sociology, anthropology, and linguistics, contributes to the growing literature on international organizations.”

Dr. Ban is a Professor and former dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and the former Acting Director of the European Union Center of Excellence/European Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University.

Professors Joan DeBardeleben and Crina Viju

In addition, Honorable Mention for the 2013 Larry Neal Prize for Excellence in EU Scholarship goes to Professors Joan DeBardeleben and Crina Viju for their coedited book Economic Crisis in Europe: What It Means for the EU and Russia, published by Palgrave Macmillan. This cross-disciplinary book, with contributions from thirteen additional leading experts from Europe and North America, studies the financial-economic crisis that erupted in 2008 and the subsequent sovereign debt crisis in Europe, and examines their economical and political influence. Innovatively, particular attention is given to the former Soviet Union countries that are now member states of the EU, as well as Russia. The volume indicates that such a crisis cannot be confined within conventional economic and political boundaries, and carries regional, national and global impacts. Expanding the scope of research, the authors seek to tackle critical questions such as why certain countries are more severely affected than others and what are the implications for Europe’s future.


Dr. DeBardeleben is Chancellor’s Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (EURUS) at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where she also is the founder and Director of Carleton’s EU Centre of Excellence and holds a Jean Monnet Chair in the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood Relations. Dr. Viju is an Assistant Professor who also works in the EURUS at Carleton University.

As part of their awards, the EU Center has invited Professor Ban and Professor DeBardeleben to give public lectures at the University of Illinois on topics addressed in their prize-winning books. Both lectures will take place in fall 2014.

In honor of Professor Emeritus of Economics Larry Neal, the founding director of the European Union Center at the University of Illinois, the EU Center created the “Larry Neal Prize for Excellence in EU Scholarship” through the generous funds from the European Commission’s European Union Center of Excellence grant. Each year the Center solicits submissions of both books and articles that address current issues faced by the European Union and in transatlatlantic relations. Submissions are encouraged from all disciplinary fields. Visit the University of Illinois EU Center web site for more information about the award submission procedures and a list of previous winners.