2015-18 Jean Monnet European Union Center of Excellence

In 2015-2018, affiliates of the Wisconsin Jean Monnet EU Center of Excellence have demonstrated the role of the EU as a major player in addressing global challenges, working to understand the internal development of the EU itself as a multi-level structure of governance, including how it is facing the challenges of parliamentary deliberation across multiple variations in the member states. Our Center sponsored 60 events and workshops from 2015-2018, featuring specialists on EU and transatlantic affairs, especially those with significant global impact (e.g., policy on migration and human rights, the EU’s impact of diplomacy at the global levels, security issues related to recent terrorist activity, and global finance including the Eurozone). Among the scholars who came to talk are: Antoine Ripoll, Jennifer Riccardi, Frédéric Bozo, Thomas Matussek, Constanze Stelzenmüller, Rolandas Kriščiūnas, Elizabeth Linos, William Drozdiak, Helma Lutz, and Kathy Thelen. The Center’s events and workshops attracted over 20,000 attendees. Events and other information on our Center and the EU is disseminated through both social media and mainstream regional media. We can be found at our website, Facebook, Twitter, and the US-based European Union Studies Association (EUSA) based out of the University of Pittsburgh where our Jean Monnet Center appears (https://www.eustudies.org/).

Our faculty continue to publish articles and edit volumes containing significant new scholarship on the EU and its global importance via academic journals, digital components for courses, monographs, continuing education courses, press releases, etc.In 2015-2018, the Wisconsin Jean Monnet EU Center of Excellence provided 18 competitive funding grants for graduate and undergraduate students. Research awards included 6 competitively-won trips to attend the Seattle-based Nationwide EU Simulations (Sam Alhadeff, Christian Blank, Sean Bray, Vanessa Studer, Jake Bradford, and Alexandria Schmidt), 4 annual Jean Monnet European Union Center of Excellence graduate student research travel awards (Maayan Mor and Anna Oltman), 4 student attendances at the week-long Brussels EU study tour (Kelsey Beunig, Clara Jeon, Violet Richardson, and Jordan Jerrett), 3 K-16 instructors at the same event (Julie Buckman, Joel Ryan, and Lisa Hollman), and 4 graduate fellowships for advanced scholars in political science (Maayan Mor, Anna Oltman, and Sanja Badanjak). These students will present original research, and hopefully cutting-edge scholarship on knowledge of the European Union and its global relevance, through these awards. Other deliverables are more intangible but include the creation of institutionalized and long-lasting relationships between UW-Madison faculty, graduate students and undergraduates with external partners including other US- and European-based Jean Monnet recipients, working groups in interdisciplinary topics such as Big Data, comparative politics, monetary policy, comparative migration, etc.

Finally, the Center’s activities—workshops, presentations, roundtables, public lectures—are always open to the general public to ensure an open exchange between high-level experts from UW-Madison and its external partners and practitioners, stakeholders, and students, and to offer members of local and regional civil society exposure to pressing current events and developments. To ensure these benefits and ensure outside participation, the Center raises awareness of its activities, advertises its events, distributes news using its website, email digest, social media presence, and maintains links with regional organizations and local, regional, national, and international media outlets.

Activities