Skip to content
Back to News

Welcome from the Directors

August 31, 2021

Welcome from the Directors

August 31, 2021
in Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies

Dear Friends and Colleagues,


Welcome to a new academic year! The bustle of students and scholars moving about the Harvard campus has brought new, hopeful energy to us at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES). We are excited to welcome back faculty and students to resume in-person classes in Adolphus Busch Hall this week. It is an important step toward a return to normalcy and has been made possible by the full effort of the entire community. While the return to campus will not be business-as-usual yet, we are confident that the resumption of CES’s programming will provide an impetus for intellectual exploration, and for students, the inspiration to take advantage of extraordinary educational opportunities.


For more than half a century, CES has been the place “where Harvard and Europe meet.” While the Center was the first of its kind at an American university, it has never rested on its laurels. People have always been at the heart of this community, and it is their passion, engagement, and innovative scholarship that provide vibrancy for CES programs and foster students’ intellectual pursuits. This year our community consists of 11 resident faculty, 37 faculty associates, 68 local affiliates, 29 seminar chairs, four program affiliates, 59 graduate student affiliates, and 33 graduate and undergraduate grant recipients. Moreover, CES will host a hybrid Visiting Scholars Program which will include five resident John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellows and seven non-resident Visiting Scholars during the fall.


During the coming year, CES seminars will organize a multi-disciplinary series of events that will examine topics ranging from the upcoming elections in France and Germany, racism in Europe, continued threats to democracy, economic uncertainties and rising inequality, as well as climate change in Europe in light of devastating floods and wildfires. We will also introduce a new Seminar on Disciplinary Knowledge, Past and Future. For the fall term seminars will be conducted virtually. While we miss convening in person, the virtual platform will continue to allow for presenting diverse perspectives and high-level speakers, as well as a global audience of participants. Stay tuned for the CES events calendar, which will resume its Sunday distribution this weekend. For a preview, visit our events calendar.


We hope that you will join us as we embark on, what we envision to be, a year of rejuvenation. Stay connected with us by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @EuropeatHarvard.


With best wishes,

Grzegorz & Elaine


Grzegorz Ekiert, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Government and CES Director

Elaine Papoulias, CES Executive Director

Close