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European Union Center

European Union Center

The European Union Center at OU was founded in September 2001, when University of Oklahoma became one of 15 national universities to host a center for European Union studies. Activities during the Center's first three years were supported by a grant awarded through a national competition by the Commission of the European Communities. Mitchell Smith, Max and Heidi Berry Chair and Professor serves as Director of the European Union Center.

The Center seeks to advance knowledge of the European Union at the University of Oklahoma, as well as throughout the local community, the state of Oklahoma, and the southwestern United States. The European Union Center at the University of Oklahoma has established a network of affiliates at universities throughout the southwest providing the program opportunities for reaching a broad regional audience.

EUROPEAN UNION CENTER

About the EU Center

The European Union Center at OU was founded in September 2001, when the University of Oklahoma became one of 15 national universities to host a center for European Union studies funded by the Commission of the European Communities. The Commission has provided substantial support for the Center's activities in the ensuing years.

The role of the Center is to advance knowledge of the European Union across the campus of the University of Oklahoma, as well as throughout the local community and the state of Oklahoma. The EU Center has pursued this objective through a a speaker series, “Issues in a Dynamic Europe,” a Model European Union, research grants for graduate students, and summer seminars for university faculty and for Oklahoma high school teachers.

Objectives:

  • Promote knowledge and awareness of the European Union and US-EU relations on the OU campus and throughout the state of Oklahoma
  • Educate state business and policy leaders on the importance of the EU to the US economy and to global affairs
  • Help regional educators at the high school level develop teaching materials on the EU

Events & News

CIS Associate Dean Mitchell Smith, EU Ambassador to the U.S. Stavros Lambrinidis, and OU President Joseph Harroz, Jr.

May 03, 2022

CIS Sponsors Visit of European Union Ambassador to the U.S.


Thomas W. Adams Best Paper Award

The OU Center for Middle East Studies and OU European Union Center hosts a contest for the best paper that addresses any aspect of conflict resolution, affecting any country that borders the Mediterranean Sea. This award is named for Thomas W. Adams, a former officer in the US State Department who has published extensively on the conflict between the Turks and Greeks on the island of Cyprus.  


Submission Guidelines:

  • Any full-time, regularly enrolled undergraduate student at the University of Oklahoma is eligible to enter
  • Submissions can be term papers, Honors research projects, graduate theses, or a paper written especially for this competition
  • Submissions should be at least 2,500 words in length and should be typed, double-spaced include a complete bibliography of cited works

Submissions will be evaluated by a committee of faculty. The award recipient will receive $750.

*Submission form will open in spring 2024. 

2022: To be announced

2021: Peter King: "Terror and Radicalization in the Islamist Context: The Cases of Egypt, Palestine, and the European Muslim Diaspora"

2020: Lauren Douglas, ""Russia and Counterterrorism: State Motivations in Chechnya and Syria"

2019: Bailey Ashbaker, "The Role of Islamist Groups in Development and Poverty Alleviation: The Changing Role of Islamism in the Middle East"

2018: Libby Trowbridge, "The Role of Libyan Weapons in Mali"

2017: James L. Ratcliff, "Weak States and Political Grievances: Understanding the Causes of the Second Libyan Civil War."

2016: Daniel Moses, "Billions of Dollars Lost Along The Checkpoints? An Econometric Analysis of Labor Mobility, Economic Development, And Violence In The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict."

Resources

The EU Depository at OU contains general EU information, a specialized collection of resources and a wide range of EU publications. The EU Depository has maintained its EU publications collection since 1973 and remains the only EU Depository in Oklahoma. This collection is aimed at promoting EU study through publication archival and scholarly research. For a PowerPoint presentation of the EU, follow this link. For a definition of the EU Depository from the European Union please click EU Depository 

Your financial support of the EU Center is greatly appreciated! Contact Von Allen, Director of Development for the College of Arts and Sciences to discuss planned giving opportunities, endowments and a variety of methods to support the mission of the European Union Center at the University of Oklahoma at vonallen@ou.edu or by phone at 1-405-325-3724.

 

The network of EU Centers promotes the study of the EU, its institutions and policies and EU-US relations through teaching programs, scholarly research and outreach activities. 

European Union Delegation to the USA

European Union Studies Association

European Union Centers can be found at universities throughout the United States. Fifteen universities received European Union Center grants through a national competition by the Commission of the European Communities. EU Centers can be found at the following locations: 

Indiana UniversityMiami - Florida CenterSyracuse UniversityTexas A&M UniversityUniversity of North CarolinaUniversity of PittsburghUniversity of Washington (Seattle)University of WisconsinWashington, D.C. Consortium


Model European Union Websites:

IUPUI Midwest Model European Union Website

University of Pittsburgh Model European Union Website

Publications

Michele Chang, Georg Menz, and Mitchell P. Smith, Redefining European Economic Governance (Routledge, 2014)

Georg Menz and Mitchell P. Smith, "Kicking the Can Down the Road to More Europe? Salvaging the Euro and the Future of European Economic Governance," Journal of European Integration 35, no. 3 (April 2013) 

Mitchell P. Smith, "Single Market, Global Competition: Regulating the European Market in a Global Economy," Journal of European Public Policy 17, no. 7 (October 2010): 936-953.

Mitchell P. Smith, "All Access Points are Not Created Equal: Explaining the Fate of Diffuse Interests in the EU," British Journal of Politics and International Relations 10, no. 1 (February 2008): 64-83.

Mitchell P. Smith, "Germany's quest for a New EU industrial policy: Why it is failing," German Politics 14, no. 3 (2005): 315-331.

Daniel Moses, "Billions of Dollars Lost Along the Checkpoints? An Econometric Analysis of Labor Mo-bility, Economic Development, and Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict," MA thesis, 2016 (PDF)

Nicole Smith, "Is Joining the European Union a Good Thing? A Synthetic Control Testing the Effects on the Slovak Republic," 2016

Stephanie Neumeier, "Integrating Turkish Immigrants into the German Labor Force,"  2016

Kaitlin Peach, "Conflict in the Mediterranean: An Analysis of the Turkish-Greek Cypriot Conflict," Capstone, 2015 (PDF)

Daniel Moses, "Billions of Dollars Lost Along the Checkpoints? An Econometric Analysis of Labor Mo-bility, Economic Development, and Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict," MA thesis, 2016 (PDF)

Nicole Smith, "Is Joining the European Union a Good Thing? A Synthetic Control Testing the Effects on the Slovak Republic," 2016

Stephanie Neumeier, "Integrating Turkish Immigrants into the German Labor Force,"  2016

Kaitlin Peach, "Conflict in the Mediterranean: An Analysis of the Turkish-Greek Cypriot Conflict," Capstone, 2015 (PDF)