About

The Center for the Study of Europe at Boston University provides institutional support for European studies across Boston University. We bring together faculty, students, international visitors, and others with interests in Europe across a variety of disciplines and coordinates the European Studies BA and minor. We also sponsor talks by leading scholars in the humanities and social sciences on political, economic, and social challenges facing Europe, as well as on European art, literature, and music.

The Center for the Study of Europe was established in 2011 and became part of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies in 2014. It was preceded by the Institute for Human Sciences (2002-2010), which promoted research and discussion of public policy issues among European and American intellectuals and policymakers.

The Center is a member of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) and the Council for European Studies. All Boston University faculty involved in the study of Europe through research or teaching, regardless of the school or college in which their appointments are based, are welcome to affiliate.

Vivien Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration, served as director of the Center through December 2016. She was succeeded by Cathie Jo Martin, Professor of Political Science, who directed the Center between January 2017 and December 2019. Daniela Caruso, Jean Monnet Chair and Professor of Law, became the Center’s third director in January 2020.

The mission of the Center for the Study of Europe is to promote a deeper understanding of Europe through its cultural heritage; its political, economic, legal, and religious histories; its art, literature, music, and philosophy; as well as through its emergence as a new kind of supranational entity, the European Union. Operationally, the Center provides a focal point and institutional support for the study of Europe across Boston University through coordination of teaching missions, support of research, community-building among faculty and students, and outreach beyond the University.

Each year the Center offers a rich program of activities ranging from public lectures and panel discussions, international symposia and conferences, film screenings and concerts, to seminars, round-tables, and lunch talks. Participants have included well-known academic researchers, politicians, policy experts, and journalists as well as artists, poets, activists, and public intellectuals. We work closely with other centers, departments, and schools here at BU; with local universities and cultural organizations; with European Consulates and Embassies; and with publishers of literature in translation, among others.

The European Studies program offers a 10-course major and a 6-course minor, both of which draw on the resources of the Pardee School of Global Studies, the College of Arts & Sciences, BU Study Abroad programs in Europe, as well as on BU’s other schools and colleges. The program combines a unifying regional focus with a multidisciplinary approach, enabling students to bring together courses that develop language skills; social, historical, and cultural knowledge; and political, economic, and international relations expertise. Both the major and the minor require written and spoken knowledge of a European language other than English.

News, Events & Opportunities

• Event Highlights: Challenges & Opportunities for the EU as a Global Actor

  This lecture by Prof. Dr. Jan Wouters, Full Professor of International Law and International Organizations and Jean Monnet Chair Ad Personam at KU Leuven, took place at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Prof. Wouters outlined the EU's global ambitions in terms... [ More ]

• Event Highlights: Ukraine’s Nuclear Disarmament and Why It Matters

  This lecture by Mariana Budjeryn, Senior Research Associate at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom (MTA), took place on Thursday, April 11. It was moderated by Sanne Verschuren, Assistant Professor of International Security at Boston University's Pardee School of Global Studies. Budjeryn's talk, based on her... [ More ]

• Works in Progress Spring 2024 (04/16/24)

  Please join us for a works in progress session with Center for the Study of Europe Visiting Researchers Camilla Scarpellino and Sara Tina. Camilla Scarpellino • PhD Student in Law & Business, Luiss Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy; Visiting Researcher, Center for the Study of Europe “Tort Liability of AI Systems: A... [ More ]

• Event Highlights: Writing across Borders

  This poetry reading and conversation with poet Selma Asotić (MFA, Boston University) took place at the Pardee School of Global Studies on Thursday, April 4, 2024. The event was moderated by Stacy Mattingly (MFA, Boston University) and co-sponsored by the BU Poetry Reading Series and the Center for the Humanities. Selma... [ More ]

• Event Highlights: Family Matters: How Family Concerns Relate to Policy Preferences and Political Choices

  This talk by Jane Green, Professor of Political Science and British Politics at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, took place at Boston University's Center for the Study of Europe on Thursday, March 21, 2024. It was moderated by Gina Sapiro, Professor Emerita of Political Science and Dean Emerita of Arts... [ More ]

• Neopopulisms: Causes and Consequences – A Lecture by Paolo Graziano (04/10/24)

  Join us for a lecture by Paolo Graziano, Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua; Research Associate at the European Social Observatory, Brussels; Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Surrey; and Chercheur associé at Sciences Po, Paris. Moderated by Daniela Caruso, Jean Monnet Chair and Professor of Law.  Wednesday, [ More ]

• Event Highlights: The Bosniaks with Jasmin Mujanović

  We were thrilled to bring back Jasmin Mujanović to to talk about his new book, The Bosniaks: Nationhood after Genocide (Hurst Publishers & Oxford University Press, 2023). The book “illuminates the sources of contemporary Bosniak political identity, tracing the evolution of a religious community into a secular nation, and shedding light on... [ More ]