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 2011-15, the European Union recognized the EUC as a European Union Center of Excellence, and in 2015-18 as a Jean Monnet Center of Excellence.
Since its inception, the European Union Center has become the focal point on campus for teaching, research, and outreach programs on the European Union. The EUC brings together faculty and students from diverse disciplines across campus to promote the study of the EU and transatlantic relations, making it one of the most comprehensive EU centers in the US. The EUC is privileged to work with Center-affiliated faculty, many of whom are internationally-renowned experts in their fields. The EUC also works closely with many other institutions to provide high quality programs to a variety of audiences. We also support an annual competition for the Larry Neal Prize for Excellence in EU Studies.
Mission:
- To promote scholarly research on the EU and transatlantic relations by serving as a national resource center;
- To strengthen the undergraduate, graduate, and professional curricula on the EU across all colleges at the University of Illinois;
- To educate and train a new generation of experts on EU policies and EU-US relations; and
- To deepen the understanding between the peoples of the US and the EU through an extensive outreach program to K-12 educators and students, businesses, government leaders, the media, and the general public.
