PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Dr. Sebnem Ozkan 217 244 0570 asozkan@illinois.edu
European Union Awards
Two Prestigious Research, Teaching and Outreach Grants to the European Union
Center at the University of Illinois
Champaign, IL, August 12, 2015 – The European Union Center
(EUC) at the University of Illinois (UI) has been awarded its third Getting to Know Europe grant and for the
first time, the Jean Monnet Center of
Excellence grant. These two programs funded by the European Union (EU) promote
greater study and understanding of the EU and transatlantic relations in the
US. The EUC will use the funds (180,000 euro, approximately $200,000) to
continue to serve as the campus focal point for outreach, research, and
teaching related to the EU. The EUC will also reach local, regional, and
national communities through strategic outreach activities that cover the economic
crisis in Greece, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment (TTIP) agreement
currently being negotiated between the EU and US, and other pressing issues.
The new Getting to Know Europe grant, funded by
the EU Delegation to the US for 2015-2017, will lead to the expansion of
flagship public engagement programs organized by the EUC. The annual EU Day,
which brings an ambassador to campus from Washington D.C. who represents the EU
member state currently holding the rotating EU presidency, will now reach
communities in Chicago and Peoria with “EU Day on the Road.” Other EUC public
engagement activities will include the “Transatlantic Educators Dialogue,” an
innovative on-line program and credit-eligible course for K-12 educators as
well pre-service teachers; “Euro Challenge” competition for Illinois high
school students (in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago), and
a “Transatlantic Relations Study Tour to Washington DC” for UI graduate and
undergraduate students. Additionally, a new annual TTIP roundtable panel with
discussants from the European Chicago consular corps will debate and
investigate the benefits of a free trade agreement between the EU and the US.
The EUC previously secured two Getting to Know Europe grants from the EU. The first project,
“Illinois and the EU: From Coal to Corn,” administered in 2008-2009, explored
the multi-faceted economic, social, cultural, and environmental connections
between the state of Illinois and the EU through study tours, conferences, and
digital media. Then, in 2011-2012, the second project, “Illinois and the EU:
Seeking Sustainable and Secure Connections in Food, Energy and Governance” continued
to examine the relationship between Illinois and the EU through the lens of
both government and private-sector sustainability initiatives in the
agricultural and energy industries.
The EU has also designated the EUC as a Jean Monnet Center of Excellence for 2015-2018 for its project
“Strengthening Transatlantic Trust.” This prestigious designation acknowledges
excellence in the EUC’s outreach, teaching, and research programs. In
particular, the grant will strengthen transatlantic trust by building on UI
expertise and international partnerships in the fields of agriculture and food
trade, economic practices and capital flows, and migration and movement of
people. Public lectures and conferences invite those around the Midwest to
benefit from the research produced by participating faculty in the US and
Europe. Besides public events and refereed journal publications, an online
course on EU politics will be developed and a book project, Language and Minorities in Europe: An
Introduction, will be completed. The EUC’s annual EU Studies Regional
Faculty Working Conference will continue to gather community college and
university instructors from around the Midwest to share their current research
and best practices for researching and teaching the EU.
Prior to becoming a Jean
Monnet Center of Excellence, the EUC was the only American institution to
have simultaneously coordinated two successful Jean Monnet Modules. The first Module, “Europe and the
Mediterranean: Transnational Spaces and Integration,” awarded in 2011 and
completed in 2014, resulted in a new, team-taught course that presented the
cultural, economic, and migratory networks linking Europe and the Mediterranean
region as interdependent spaces. The course continues to be taught as a
permanent offering at the university. The second Module, “Eastern Europe and
European Integration,” awarded in 2013 and ongoing until 2016, also features a
new, team-taught course that links Western and Eastern Europe as
interdependent, multicultural, and multinational spaces historically connected
through cultural, political, and migratory networks. Besides the course
offerings, the Jean Monnet Modules reach other EUC stakeholders through
conferences, lectures, publications, radio/TV broadcasts, webcasts, and
workshops.
The
University of Illinois European Union Center (EUC) was established in 1998 with
support from the European
Commission, as one of the ten original EU Centers in the United
States. In 2003, the US Department of Education designated the EUC as a Title VI National Resource Center.
In 2011, the European Union recognized the EUC as a European Union Center of
Excellence.
For more information
please visit the EUC website at euc.illinois.edu
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