Fourth Southwestern Model EU - Thank you!

The European Union Center at the University of Oklahoma would like to thank all of the participants and instructors involved in the Fourth Southwestern Model EU.  The event, held on April 9-11, 2009 was a great success!  Students from the University of Arkansas, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City University, the University of Oklahoma, Norman High School and Norman North High School joined together to simulate a European Council summit meeting.  Heads of State, Foreign Ministers, Economics Ministers, and Environment Ministers met in enthusiastic and sometimes heated sessions to develop EU policy on such topics as EU expansion, global climate change, the global financial crisis, and policy towards the Middle East.

Links

• Draft of the communique that was developed by the participants and was the cumulative project of the event
• Photos

Congratulations to Rebecca Bruehl from Norman North High School, and her teacher Dan Nolan and Rachel Zarrow from Holland Hall and her teacher Chris Cook. 

As a result of their winning essays, the two student authors and their teachers will join University of Oklahoma Professor Mitchell Smith and his OU summer course on "The European Union as a Global Actor" for 5 days in Brussels, Belgium, departing on Monday, June 29 and returning on Sunday, July 5.

 
The European Union Center at the University of Oklahoma will cover the costs of air travel, accommodations, and a group dinner in Brussels. The program will include visits to the Commission of the European Union, the European Parliament, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, and other sites.

We are pleased to announce that the European Union Center has been awarded a "Getting to Know Europe" Grant by the European Commission. The grant will fund a wide range of activities during the 2009 calendar year.

Thank you for your interest in the European Union and the EU Center at the University of Oklahoma. Utilizing the links to the left, this website will provide you with information regarding the European Union, EU Center programs and activities and other news and events relevant to the study of the European Union. If you have any questions about the Center or if we can be of any service, please don't hesitate to contact the Center and its staff using the contact information to the left.

About the EU 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. The EU Center is now in its sixth year of operation. Robert Cox, Associate Professor and Director of the School of International and Area Studies, and Mitchell Smith, Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Area Studies, have served as Co-Directors of the European Union Center since its inception.

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. Activities of the Center include a speaker series, “Issues in an Expanding Europe,” a Model European Union Summit, research grants for graduate students, and summer seminars for university faculty and for Oklahoma high school teachers.

• Promote the study of the European Union at universities in the Southwest
• Educate business and policy leaders on the importance of the EU
• Develop outreach networks with universities in the Southwest
• Help regional educators at the high school level develop teaching materials on the EU
• Promote people to people contact through exchanges 

• Model EU Simulation
• Annual Conference on the EU
• Business Briefings
• Summer Curriculum Development Seminar for College Instructors
• Research Grant Program for faculty and graduate students
• New courses (web-enhanced) on European Affairs
• Distinguished Visitor-in-residence, Mr. Henry McLeish, Former First Minister of Scotland
• Southwest Regional Network

The EU Center is housed within the School of International and Area Studies, 729 Elm Ave., Room 116, Norman, OK 73019-2105. Tel (405) 325-1584. Fax (405) 325-7402. Email sias at ou.edu.