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.

Daniela Caruso, Professor of Law and Jean Monnet Chair, with Vlad Perju, Director of the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy at Boston College. “Eastern European Democracies and the EU Rule of Law Framework (Europe and Law Series),” March 17, 2016.

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

  •  Inner Zone: The Untold Violence of Retribution in Besieged Sarajevo (11/04/26)

    Join us for a book talk by Jelena Diab Golubović, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at. Previously, she was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at The Fletcher School of Global Affairs at Tufts University. Her research is ethnographically grounded in the former Yugoslavia, where she explores hidden geographies of political... [ More ]

  • Controlling Immigration:  A Comparative Perspective with James Hollifield (08/31/26)

    Join us for a conversation around Controlling Immigration:  A Comparative Perspective with James Hollifield, editor. James F. Hollifield is the Ora Nixon Arnold Fellow in International Political Economy, Professor in the Department of Political Science, and Director of the Tower Center at SMU in Dallas, Texas. Hollifield has served as an Advisor to various governments... [ More ]

  • The Future of NATO and US Alliances: A Conversation with Amb. Jeff Flake (10/06/26)

    Join us for The Future of NATO and US Alliances: A Conversation with Amb. Jeff Flake.  Amb. Flake spent eighteen years representing Arizona in Washington: twelve years in the House, six in the Senate.  During his time in office, he built a reputation for principle over politics. After the Senate, he... [ More ]

  • Workshop in International Theory and History (Fall 2026)

    The goal of this workshop is to put BU's historians, political theorists, and theory-oriented comparativists into closer conversation - please join us! Thursday September 10, 2026 • 12 to 1:30 PM “The Age of  Hobsbawm” Emile Chabal, Professor of Contemporary History, University of Edinburgh Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road Thursday, November... [ More ]

  • Event Highlights: Building Technological Capacities in the Bipolar World of AI

    This discussion with Joseph Jerome, Senior Public Policy Manager at DuckDuckGo, and Erik Peinert, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston University, took place on Monday, May 4, 2026, as part of a larger workshop entitled, "Can the EU Achieve Technological Sovereignty," organized by Jean Monnet Chair Sofia Perez, Associate... [ More ]

  • Can the EU Achieve Technological Sovereignty? (05/04/26)

    Join us for a conference exploring how economic and geopolitical developments have led the European Union to identify technological sovereignty as one of its core ambitions. What are the principal challenges the EU faces, and how have these changed as cloud computing and artificial intelligence become integrated features of modern... [ More ]

  • Elsewheres: Migration and Narration (04/30/26)

    Join us for a conversation with Aleksandar Hemon and Velibor Božović. Please register on Eventbrite. Aleksandar Hemon is the author of the novels The World and All That It Holds, which won the 2023 Grand Prix de Litterature Americaine in France; and The Lazarus Project, which was a finalist for the 2008 National... [ More ]