News & Announcements

News and Announcements

Academic Year 2014-2015

  • CSAMES will be organizing a conference and teacher workshop on the Indian Ocean to be held on October 16-18, featuring speaker Susan Douglass, who helped develop curriculum modules for Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean.
  • Brown University’s Choices Program presents Empire, Republic, Democracy: A History of Turkey, which “traces the final years of the Ottoman Empire, the struggle for independence, and the birth of the Turkish Republic.” This learning module includes lessons and activities which help students “grapple with the questions and challenges facing people in Turkey today.”

Academic Year 2012-2013

  • Watch Jocelyne Cesari’s lecture, “Religion and Political Participation of Muslims in the West (It Is Not What You Think)” on September 10, 2012. For more information, check out the calendar entry.
  • Roundtable discussion of “The French Elections & The European Financial Crises”with speakers Jean-Philippe Mathy, Marcus Keller, and Emanuel Rota on October 1, 2012. Check out the calendar entry.
  • The European Union Center co-sponsored the New Middle East: Social and Political Change in the Twenty-First Century conference that was held October 18-20, 2012. More information is available on the conference webpage.
  • EUC Lecture Series presents “The Mobility of Politics: A Tunisian Revolution in the European Union. Three Mediterranean Postcards” by Glenda Garelli (Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago) on November 2, 2012. For more information, check out the calendar entry.
  • EUC Lecture Series presents “Integrative Soundscapes: Building EU Community through Bulgarian Mumming Festivals & Folkloric Practice” by Donna Buchanan (Musicology, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana) on November 30, 2012. For more information, see the calendar entry.
  • Jean Monnet Lecture Series presents “Child Abuse in Casanova’s Venice” by Larry Wolff (History, NYU) on December 3, 2012. For more information, check out the calendar entry.
  • Join us for four films from across the EU,
    also featuring contemporary comedies from the Mediterranean!–
    Sept. 12: La Fée (The Fairy), Beligum/France, 2011
    — Oct. 9: Primos (Cousinhood), Spain, 2011
    — Oct. 30: Immaturi (The Immature), Italy, 2011
    — Feb. 14: L’Arnacoeur (Heartbreaker), France, 2010
  • Also check out the Global Lens Film Series, including two films from the Mediterranean:
    — Sept. 5: Amnistia (Amnesty), Albania, 2011

    Nov. 7: Gişe Memuru (Toll Booth), Turkey, 2010
  • Watch Stefanos Katsikas’s lecture, “Islam and Sharia Law in the Making of Modern Greece (1832-1923)” on December 4, 2012. For more information, check out the calendar entry.
  • The EUC participated in a video conference panel discussion, “The Next Member State: Croatia’s Path to the European Union” with the Univerisity of Pittsburgh on January 22, 2013. A video of the conference can be found on YouTube.
  • Stefanos Katsikas also gave a lecture entitled “Greece’s Opening to the Soviet Bloc in the Early 1970s: A Concious Diplomatic Strategy?” on February 4, 2013. More information can be found on the lecture’s calendar entry.
  • Attend the graduate student conference, “Real and Imaginary Borders Across the Mediterranean,” with keynote speakers Ruth Ben-Ghita, (History and Italian Studies, New York University) and Abdulkader Sinno (Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington) on February 8 – February 9, 2013. See the calendar entry for more information.
  • As part of the EUC’s EU Day celebration, members of the Chicago Consular Corps from Germany, Greece, Croatia, and Turkey participated in a panel discussion entitled “Visions for a Future Europe”. More information on the discussion and a video can be found on our blog.
  • Jean Monnet Lecture Series: “Mediterranean Networks: Connecting People, Ideas and Cultures Across Time,” Monday, March 4, 2013, 12:00 pm. See the calendar entry for more information.
  • EUC Lecture Series/Jean Monnet Lecture Series presents “Between Home and Homeland: Migration and National Dilemmas across the Bulgarian-Greek Border in the Early Twentieth Century” by Theodora Dragostinova (History, Ohio State University) on March 8, 2013, 12:00 pm. See the calendar entry for more information.
  • The 2nd Annual Champaign Greek Film Festival took place on March 9 and 10, 2013. More information about the festival can be found on the calendar entry.
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty members Mary Kalantzis and Bill Cope presented a lecture on “Improving Access to Education for Greek Roma” on April 1, 2013. A recap of the lecture has been posted on our blog.
  • The EUC co-sponsored the seventh annual Turkish Studies Symposium: Ethnographies in Istanbul” on April 5, 2013. More information about the symposium is located on our website.
  • Ronald Linden of the University of Pittsburg’s lecture,“Turkey and Its Black Sea Neighbors: Foreign Relations in an Area of Transition” is available to watch online. See the calendar entry for the April 19, 2013 event for more information.
  • EUC Summer Curriculum Development Workshop: “The Timeless Mediterranean and the New European Union: Transnational Spaces and Integration,” on June 10-13, 2013. Visit the workshop’s webpage for more information.

Academic Year 2011-2012

  • Watch Adrian Favell’s lecture,
    European Union versus European Society: New Disciplinary Perspectives on EU Studies,” delivered April 13, 2012 as part of the EUC’s Graduate Student Conference, “The European Union in the 21st Century: Policies and Approaches to Global Challenges.”
  • Mark your calendars for the upcoming Sustainability in the Mediterranean Lecture Series event, “Sustainability, Territoriality, and Trains: The Regional Politics of Trans-European Transport in Mediterranean Spain” by David Prytherch and Josep Vicent Boira. For more information, check out the event flyer and calendar entry.
  • Get ready for the EUC-sponsored talk, “The River Nile in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Antiquity,” presented by Eleni Manolaraki of the University of South Florida. The talk will take place on April 9, 12:00 pm in Lucy Ellis Lounge, FLB. See the calendar entry for more details.
  • Check out a message from
    Ambassador João Vale de Almedia, Head of the European Union Delegation to the U.S., accompanying the March 2012 EU Focus about the EU and the Mediterranean:
    THESE ARE PROTECTED UNDER INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC COPYRIGHT LAW. FOR USAGE PLEASE EMAIL JAMIE@JAMIEROSE.NET FOR MORE INFORMATION. © Jamie Rose Photography 2010The European Union has always placed a high priority on establishing and maintaining a close and special relationship with our neighbors in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. We are joined together through both history and geography; the Mediterranean has always been the cultural, economic, and political crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa.Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has often said that the European Union should be judged by our effectiveness in our own neighborhood. If we can support the countries on our borders as they become more sustainable, secure, and democratic, that is to the advantage of us all.

    In the current issue of EU Focus, you can learn more about the EU’s involvement in the Mediterranean region, ranging from our support for the Arab Spring countries to our commitment to the Middle East Peace Process.

  • Join us for four award-winning films inspired by the captivating Mediterranean!

    Jan 25: Mediterranean (Mediteraneo), Italy/1991
    — Feb 22: A Prophet (Un prophete), Belgium/2009
    — March 13: Shadows and Faces (Golgeler ve Suretler), Turkey/2010
    — Apr 23: Welcome to the Sticks (Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis), France/2008
    Screening time & location for all four films: 5:15PM; 1080 Lucy Ellis Lounge, FLB, 707 S. Mathews.
    Click here for the Spring 2012 European Movie Nights flyer.
  • Tune into Mare Nostrum on WEFT 90.1FM on Wednesday, November 30, to hear Sebnem Ozkan and Jean-Philippe Mathy discuss the Mediterranean and the new SLCL Mediterranean Studies Initiative! For more information on Mare Nostrum, check out the EUC’s blog post about the show.
    —This radio program is now available as as podcast.