Celebrating 50 Years of Europe at Harvard

Fifty years ago, a young graduate student named Guido Goldman joined his admired professor, Stanley Hoffmann, in a modest venture that would eventually grow into today's Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES).

Since that time, CES has advanced the study of Europe in all corners of the globe and has built a community of thousands of faculty, scholars, and students who have made great achievements as educators, researchers, journalists, entrepreneurs, and leaders in every sector imaginable. The collective accomplishments of the CES community over the past 50 years provide reasons to celebrate and give thanks, and inspire us to continue to advance the Center’s timeless mission.

CES is today a Harvard institution, but it as always been more than that: a veritable hub for European studies in the Boston area and beyond.

CES Through the Years

The History of CES (1969 - Present)

Read the history of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, authored by CES Affiliate Arthur Goldhammer.

View historical photos on Flickr.

Stanley Hoffman

5 Bryant Street

Peter A. Hall, Guido Goldman, David Blackbourn, Charles Maier, and Stanley Hoffmann (left to right).

Adolphus Busch Hall

The Center Today

CES is continually transforming and changing in order to adapt to the current academic climate. As the age of area studies wanes, there has been a diversification in the pathways to understanding Europe. As a result, the Center has adopted several innovative endeavors to engage with these changing conditions. Below are a few examples of these endeavors.

Expanding Events and Programming

The Center has transformed seminars and study groups. It also has dramatically increased its events, having over 300 speakers a year, as well as instituting a number of annual lectures. The Center also conducts a hallmark conference, the "Summit for the Future of Europe" that is a yearly signature event.
Expanding Role in Undergraduate Education

The Center has increased its visibility on campus and upgraded its seminar rooms and common work spaces. More importantly in 2016, CES established a secondary field, or minor, in European History, Politics and Societies. This provides students with a chance to gain a nuanced understanding of modern Europe through an interdiciplinary course of study.
Expanding Field of Focus within Research and Programming

The Center has also strengthened its attention on Eastern Europe. Through the work of Grzegorz Ekiert and Elaine Papoulias, the Center has truly become the Center for European Studies with programs and scholarships across the continent, with growth happening particularly in the Balkans, Poland, and Turkey.
Establishing a Gallery that Strengthens Interdisciplinary Study of Europe

The Center's former library was converted into a gallery thanks to a generous gift by Jacek E. Giedrojc. The gallery promotes European studies through exhibits, such as the current exhibit, "Remember Yugoslavia? Photographs by Martin Karplus." Mary D. Lewis said, "I see the gallery as a very important innovation that brings new people to the Center and allows us to explore connections between arts, politics, and social sciences."
Learn More

Relive Our 50th Event Series

The Guido Goldman Lecture on Germany presents:

Challenges to Democracy in the European Union: An Address by Sergey Lagodinsky

The second annual Guido Goldman Lecture on Germany delivered by Sergey Lagodinsky, a Member of the European Parliament and Harvard Kennedy School alumnus (2003). Learn from his insights and expertise on climate change, transatlantic relations as well as the law and politics of diversity and integration.

The Inaugural Stanley Hoffmann Lecture on France and the World presents:

Capital and Ideology: As Address by Thomas Piketty

The inaugural Stanley Hoffmann Annual Lecture on France and the World delivered by Thomas Piketty, professor at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) and the Paris School of Economics. Piketty discussed his book Capital and Ideology (The Belnap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020).