Campus Spotlight: Nanovic Institute for European Studies, University of Notre Dame
Campus Spotlight: The Nanovic Institute for European Studies, University of Notre Dame
By Abigail Lewis
“The Nanovic Institute for European Studies enriches the intellectual culture of Notre Dame by serving as an integrated, interdisciplinary home for students and faculty to explore the evolving ideas, cultures, beliefs, histories, and institutions that shape Europe. To pursue this mission, the institute works to promote European studies at Notre Dame, transform its undergraduates, professionalize its graduate students, foster its interdisciplinary faculty research, and build its global network.”
In this campus spotlight, we highlight at the University of Notre Dame. The Nanovic Institute is an interdisciplinary European Studies research center in Notre Dame’s
“Since 1992, the Nanovic Institute has led Notre Dame to Europe, and Europe to Notre Dame.” The Nanovic Institute for European Studies serves as a bridge at the University of Notre Dame; the institute activates scholarly connections and communities between South Bend, IN, and the “peripheries” of Europe.
The Nanovic Institute for European Studies robustly supports the interdisciplinary study of Europe—including the social sciences, humanities, and global affairs—by facilitating faculty, graduate, and undergraduate research and experiential learning in Europe. Nanovic programs range from the Nanovic Forum speaker series, which brings leading voices on Europe to Notre Dame, including former presidents, prime ministers, and top scholars; the Laura Shannon European Studies Book Prize; a Ukrainian Studies hub; the Catholic Universities Partnership (CUP); experiential learning programs in Europe, including the Diplomacy immersion, the Lublin Summer School, and the Resilience and Recovery Summer School in Croatia; service learning programs throughout eastern and southern Europe; robust research funding for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty members; and a European Studies minor.
However, what makes Nanovic “Nanovic” extends from its commitment to building relationships across the Atlantic and supporting experiential learning in Europe. During its more than 30-year history, Nanovic has supported hundreds of students in traveling to Europe, often for the first time, to conduct undergraduate research, attend conferences, participate in internships and service learning, and take part in beyond-the-classroom learning opportunities. Today, Nanovic sends students to Bulgaria, Poland, Croatia, Lithuania, and Italy to serve marginalized communities, organizes an annual Spring Break trip to the Hague and Brussels to learn about diplomacy and the EU, and plans summer schools in Poland and Croatia with peers from universities in Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, Croatia, Slovakia, and Hungary.
Other distinctive aspects of the Nanovic Institute are its focus on Europe, integral human development, and the common good as part of the Keough School of Global Affairs. Since 2021, Nanovic has outlined its strategic focus on engaging big questions and “peripheries” in Europe. This strategic focus has led to initiatives focused on Decolonizing Scholarship across disciplines, sustainability and climate change, and Ukrainian Studies, and publication projects including an edited volume on contested sites of memory, a handbook on peripheries and European Studies, and a collaborative project with the Catholic Universities Project about the role of religion and the fall of communism. Nanovic channels its academic programming, research, and grant-making priorities towards initiatives that amplify big questions about race and racism, migration, sustainability, and ethics, among others.
This campus spotlight highlights how Nanovic connects communities, fosters collaboration, and supports student and faculty research. It includes articles written by Nanovic undergraduate students, faculty, and Rory Finnin, the 2024 Laura Shannon Prize Book Winner. This spotlight illuminates what Nanovic excels at: experiential learning in Europe, building scholarly communities across the Atlantic, and robustly supporting the study of Europe.
Campus Spotlight: Nanovic Institute for European Studies, University of Notre Dame
- Ukrainian Studies Hub by Keith Sayer
- Remembrance Without Blame: The Memory of World War II in Les Milles, Aix-en-Provence by Jun Wei Lee
- Irish Island Memories: The Inishbofin Library Legal Studies Collection by Cecelia Swartz
- Laura Shannon Prize Reflection by Rory Finnin
- Notre Dame/Catholic University of Lublin Summer Program: “Lublin as a Site and Symbol of Jewish Presence” by Sophia Rockwell
To learn more about the Nanovic Institute:
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