Eu centers proposal submission guidelines

1. European Court Graduate Travel Stipend. The Travel Stipend program will look to support the already well developed exchange programs of UT’s professional schools. The School of Law, currently ranked 15 in the US (US News World & Report, 2009), has made a major investment in the expansion and enhancement of its international and comparative law programs. In the core law faculty, five scholars concentrate significantly on Europe, and two are among the foremost leading authorities in their fields (for example, Inga Markovits and Basil S. Markesinis). UT law students now spend more time overseas than ever before in the school’s history as a result of an opening in exchanges around the world and new internship opportunities. The Graduate Travel Stipend program here proposed will intensify and deepen UT’s commitment to exposing Law students to Europe through practical experiences by assisting one student each year to attend the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg.

2. EU Public Policy or EU-US Relations PhD Research Grant. To ensure that EU public policy ideas and best practices are widely understood in the U.S. by both academia and policy makers alike. This research grant will award graduate students at the University of Texas the opportunity to conduct field research in Europe and meet with key policy makers at the supranational and Member State national level. MARKO: CAN YOU WRITE UP SOME GARBAGE ABOUT WHY WE NEED TO GIVE MONEY TO PEOPLE WORKING ON PUBLIC POLICY, with the idea that we’ll funnel the money to people in LBJ, history, and govt, I imagine.

3. Business Faculty Stipend. Business School faculty, as well as faculty in other disciplines (such as Economics, Government, and LBJ) who are researching business-related topics, understand well that the US and the EU share many economic and business interests.  Nevertheless, researchers’ interests have shifted disproportionately toward Asia in the past decade, following the general drift of attention in the business media.  By awarding two 3,000 euro grants for research on topics dedicated to the EU, or to support collaborative research between researchers at our university and their colleagues in the EU, we will promote increased dialogue about important topics of common interest.

4. Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Stipend. Why are we giving them money then? This seems incredibly general. How can we specify grant money for study of forgeries, restoration and health care issues in the same stipend? Why not just say: “Here we will give money to faculty who want to do something about Europe”. It is too broad. THINK OF SOME CRAP TO SAY ABOUT THIS, MARKO. Pleeeeease. Why we need to give money to folks who don’t often bother to even write up a compelling proposal for research funds. What shall we target? Topics related to EU cultural patrimony (acquisition, retrieval, forgeries, borrowings, restoration, preservation, and thefts) seems cool to me as one humanities-oriented topic. EU aging population and health care issues seems cool as another (sociologists and demographers might like that)

NEW OBJECTIVES:

We will support two students from the UT School of Law, McCombs School of Business and the UT School of Journalism interested in going on exchange to the European Union educational institutions. This program will fulfill the expected outcomes of Objective 1 (increasing the number of students researching the European Union and acquiring practical hands-on experience) a, Objective 3 (NEED TO CHANGE: increasing number of student exchange programs with universities in the EU) and Objective 4 (embedding Center activities in ongoing University programs).

The PhD Grant will make two 2,000 euro grants available to Doctoral students pursuing the University of Texas “Doctoral Portfolio Program in Interdisciplinary European Studies.” We intend to raise the visibility of the Doctoral Portfolio and create incentives for students interested in pursuing such research.

The objectives of the Doctoral Portfolio are:

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  To foster dialogue and communication throughout the University among the faculty and graduate students who are engaged in research and teaching on Europe from an interdisciplinary perspective,
  
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  To offer a venue for exchange and integration of perspectives drawn from various disciplines,
  
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  To promote dialogue to raise consciousness for research and writing standards in interdisciplinary research, supplementing extant interdisciplinary lecture series on the campus (e.g. Germanic Studies lectures, Modernism Discussion Group, British Studies Seminar),
  
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  To facilitate students' definition of appropriate interdisciplinary perspectives and courses of study for their future professional careers (in research, teaching, or otherwise),
  
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  To create a formal advising structure on interdisciplinary work and career opportunities to supplement that available in extant degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and professional schools,
  
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  To provide prospective employers with indications of a student's area and disciplinary competencies outside normal degree sequences. Furthermore, the establishment of the IES Portfolio would promote interdisciplinary contact among the many faculty and graduate students currently engaged in research and scholarship that cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries.
  

By supporting this program, the Center will increase and support doctoral students focusing their dissertation research on the EU and EU-US relations, increase the number of research papers written on European Union themes, support existing EU studies certificates (expected outcomes of Objective 1), increase the number of exchanges and European travel by our graduate students (expected outcome of Objective 2) and embed the activities of the Center within the ongoing University programs (expected outcome of Objective 5).
EU CENTERS 2008-11

Proposal Narrative Form
4.A.4. Activities: Curriculum Development. Indicate all faculty curriculum development grants or other curricular activities to be implemented during each academic year for the entire 2008-11 grant period. Describe likely course or program themes and the likely number of students impacted. Any faculty grants in this category must be made by competitive process and none can be awarded to EU Center staff (see section III of the Call for Proposals). Please also specify how these activities will further the program policy objectives and produce the related outcomes set out in section II of the Call for Proposals, and provide measurable criteria for evaluating their implementation. Attach additional page(s) if necessary.
All curriculum development grants for teaching at UT will be made available through a competitive process open to all UT Faculty. The Center staff, Director and members of the Executive Board will not be allowed to participate.
We will evaluate the implementation of the program through feedback from the faculty member receiving the grant, a voluntary survey completed by the students enrolled in the developed courses and a quantitative measure of the interest in the course in comparison to other courses at UT.
Course Development Plans
CES is proposing three “course development” projects, one of which is an outreach project with a local institution of higher learning.
We also intend to tie-in our Visiting Scholar program to the Curriculum Development grant. We will encourage the faculty receiving Curriculum Development funding to have one class made available for a guest lecturer form one of our Visiting Scholars (pending that the topics of their research match). We will also encouragebe encouraging the faculty applying for the Curriculum Development grants to incorporate our Conferences, Workshops and Colloquium Series in their syllabus (again pending that the research topics match).
What follows are details regarding the projects.
Our Course Development program will be available each year for two faculty members and will consist of two objectives.
Course Development I: We are committed to increasing the number of EU courses that bridge the business and humanities curriculum, to make the courses available to both Liberal Arts majors and Business majors. To that end, will be providing funds for competitive proposals for the development and instruction of writing-intensive courses related to commerce and business in the EU in the following six areas, with the aim of funding at least 3 of the best course proposals. So far we have already received the following proposals: (1) The Commercial Environment in the EU: “The course is an introduction to the general context for commercial law in the EU and how this impacts business practice. It will place particular emphasis on differences in regulatory philosophy and application from commercial regulation and resulting business activities in the U.S.” (2) Culture and the Fashion Industry in the EU: “This course will examine the Fashion Industry in the EU from a cultural perspective. It will focus on role of Italy, France, and England as leaders in the Fashion Industry and the cultural background for particular industry forms and models in each nation.”(3) Corporations, Management Strategies, and "Mitbestimmung"/Co-Determination in Germany and the EU: “This course will deal with the special representation of employees on the boards of corporations, in decision making, and general meetings in large enterprises based in Germany. The history, specific post-1945 situation, the development, the conflicts (e.g., w./ multi-nationals), and future prospects both within the Federal Republic's "social market economy" and the EU.” (4) The EU as a Single Market: Potential and Prospects: “This course would look at the single market initiative overall as well as in key industry sectors. The idea would be to develop an understanding of different national economies and key industry sectors and how commercial strengths play into the EU economy overall as well as the political context of competition. Key challenges for the single market by sector would be examined as well.” (5) Corporate Governance and Competitive Policy in the EU: “This course will explore the historical and evolving approach that the EU has taken to Corporate Governance as well as the underlying philosophical approach to business and the role of business in society. The impact of this philosophy on the competitive environment, regulation and business practice will be emphasized.” (6) The Euro and European Financial Markets: “This course will explore the impact of the Euro on global financial markets including the way currency has impacted the roll of the dollar. European monetary policy will be explored along with prospects for future policy and currency impacts in the future.”
Course Development II: The second objective is to allow one faculty member to create a new “Signature Course” on the topic of “ethics and leadership” in the European Union widely construed. The signature course program provides all first-year students at the University with a course that helps them make the transition from promising high school students to worldly, knowledge-driven college students. As such it constitutes an important gateway course that can shape what students will study during their time at UT.
Course Development III. As part of its overall outreach efforts, andin particular with an aim to forging connections with minority institutions in the community, CES will develop a series of classes on European and EU-related topics at Huston-Tillotson University, a historically black college in the heart of Austin, Texas. Indeed, we feel it is central to our mission as not only a National Resource Center of European Studies but also as the flagship university of the state of Texas to actively bring our formidable resources—both monetary and, to be sure, pedagogical—to the less privileged and less well-endowed institutions of higher learning in our state. To this end, we anticipate funding and teaching the following courses over the grant cycle at Huston-Tillotson:

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  Fall 2012 - International Politics with a focus on Europe and the EU
  
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  Spring 2012 - The European Union
  
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  Fall 2012 - Comparative Government with a focus on Europe and the EU
  
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  Spring 2013 - Modern European History and the EU
  
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  Fall 2013 - European Politics and the EU
  
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  Spring 2014 - War and Peace in Europe and the EU
  

OBJECTIVES:
Objective 1: Course development will fulfill the objective of developing centers of academic excellence in EU studies.
Objective 3: Strengthen “people-to-people links” between university faculty, students and their host institutions in the EU and U.S.

Course Development I: The first objective is to allow one faculty member to incorporate European Union themes, issues and case studies in their already existent course. The inclusion of European Union topics must be substantial, accounting for no less than 75% of the entire reading material, case study analysis and overall syllabus. We will aggressively advertise this curriculum development grant in the Sciences and Engineering faculty, although it will be open to all departments and schools. This program will fulfill the expected outcomes of Objective 1 (new material on the EU and transatlantic relations incorporated in existing courses and increasing the volume of research conducted on European Union themes on campus), Objective 3 (by involving the Visiting Scholar in the developed classes we will increase “people-to people” links with EU scholars and universities) and Objective 5 (the development of new courses will aid existing programs while the support of already existing programs will raise the profile of the Center on campus).
Post-Baccalaureate Degree Development Plans

Course Development II: The second objective is to allow one faculty member to create a new “Signature Course” on the politics of the European Union widely construed. The signature course program provides all first-year students at the University with a course that helps them make the transition from promising high school students to worldly, knowledge-driven college students. As such it constitutes an important gateway course that can shape what students will study during their time at UT.
Creating Masters of European Studies:
The Center will also work with departments and professional schools as well as with the Center for European Studies and the Center for Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies to develop a Masters in European Studies which would concentrate on the European Union themes. At the moment the University of Texas has a Masters in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies and a BA program in European Studies within the Center for European Studies.CES has approval from both the dean of the College of Liberal Arts (Randy Diehl) and the dean of LBJ (Ambassador Robert Hutchings) to move forward with the creation and implementation of a joint MA in European Studies that would concentrate on European Union. In fashioning this MA, wWe also intend to work closely with those two Centers as well asas the CREEES, which already has an MA, and the the LBJ School of Public Policy, UT School of Law. Our plan is to submit the MA proposal for review in fall 2012.  Since it usually takes six months for the proposal to move through the university administrative channels and then receive final approval from the UT-wide system Coordinating Board, we expect that we can begin receiving applications by late 2013, with the plan of admitting our first group of students in fall 2014.   

, School of Journalism and the McCombs School of Business to create a Masters of European Studies that would concentrate on European Union studies and would provide four streams: European Union Law (joint degree program with the law school), European Union Public Policy (joint degree program with the LBJ School), European Union Business (joint degree with the McCombs School) and European Union Journalism (joint degree with the UT School of Journalism).

In order to achieve the creation of the Masters Program the Center, its Director and the Executive Board, will hold annual coordination meetings with the Deans and faculty in the professional schools. We intend to be well on our way to create such a program by the end of our three year cycle in 2011.

EU CENTERS 2008-11

Proposal Narrative Form
4.A.5. Activities: Working Papers, Newsletters, and Other Publications. Indicate all working papers, newsletters and any other publications not described under ‘Conferences and Workshops’ to be implemented during each academic year of the 2008-11 grant period. Be sure to include targeted audience(s), likely number of recipients, and planned means of dissemination. Please also specify how these activities will further the program policy objectives and produce the related outcomes set out in section II of the Call for Proposals, and provide measurable criteria for evaluating their implementation. Attach additional page(s) if necessary.
Newsletter
The Center will have a monthly newsletter through which we intend to disseminate the following:

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  A list of the upcoming EU Center Events, as well as European related events put on by other schools and departments both at the University of Texas and our partner educational institutions in the region,
  
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  To provide the upcoming deadlines for funding and grants from the EU Center, as well as funding opportunities from other schools and departments within the University of Texas,
  
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  To list of the upcoming deadlines for funding and grants from non-University of Texas entities (European Union, The US State Department, Council for European Studies, etc.), and
  
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  To provide links to the news sources about issues in the European Union (such as the EU’s Press Room: http://europa.eu/press_room/index_en.htm).
  

To disseminate our newsletter, the Center will create an extensive email list compiled from participants to our events, interested students as well as partners in professional schools and academic departments. We will also work closely with our partners in the Texas State government and local businesses to increase our email list and thus the readership of our newsletter. We will have a user-friendly portal for outreach access, with links to Hemispheres, the international outreach consortium at UT, of which CES is a vital member, along with the Center for East European, Eurasian, and Russian Studies (CREEES).

We will also use our newsletter to advertise our fellow US and Canadian Centers of EU Excellence. We will have links to their websites embedded in the newsletter and will inform our readership of their upcoming events.
To assess the success of our newsletter we will primarily look at the statistics of our readership. We will also have an email link in our newsletter for suggestions on how we can improve it.

With the newsletter we hope to fulfill the expected outcomes of all the proposed Objectives. We hope that it will increase awareness of our educational events, that it will constitute an important strategy in our public outreach, that it will strengthen “people-to-people” links, that it will consolidate and enhance the effectiveness of the network of EU Centers of excellence and that it will center our activities in ongoing University programs through increased visibility and advertising.

Student Led Journal:
The Student Led Journal will be run by the students of the LBJ School, UT School of Law and the McCombs School of Business. The editorial board will be selected through a competitive process by the Center’s Executive Board.
The papers for the Student Led journal will be provided by the papers submitted to the Essay competition (thus the journal will be open to non-UT students) as well as through a separate call for papers.
The Journal will increase the visibility of the Center, provide outreach opportunities to our regional partners and create opportunities for collaboration amongst the students and faculty research Europe.
Student Led journal will be available in both print format (publishing costs will be funded by the Center) as well as for free download through our website in pdf format. EU CENTERS 2008-112011-14

Proposal Narrative Form
4.A.6. Activities: Website. Describe the likely content and design of your proposed EU Center of Excellence website, or any planned modifications to the current structure and/or content of an existing EUCE website. Please also specify how these activities will further the program policy objectives and produce the related outcomes set out in section II of the Call for Proposals, and provide measurable criteria for evaluating their implementation. Attach additional page(s) if necessary.
The website will provide the Center with an outreach and informative capacity. We intend to put all of our events and programs on the website. We will also create direct links to the existing EUCE website as well as to all the other American and Canadian EU Centers of Excellence. We will also provide links to research grants and funds available through non-UT external institutions.
The Center will also use the website as a portal for EU related information and news in the broadest sense. It will maintain an overview of open source information on the European Union, both in terms of links to EU institutional websites as well as to the best media, blogs and academic sites that are useful to researchers and policy makers.

MARKO: THINK OF SOME MORE CRAP. Keeping news events related to the EU and EU-US relations posted and continuously updated, so that the Center website becomes a portal for disseminating information in the broadest sense. BLAH BLAH????

We will place all of our conferences and events on the website in a video format, available for either download or viewing through streaming “tube” technology. We will not film discussion sessions, but will make the transcripts available for download.
All the conference reports and papers will be available for download through the website. The winning papers of the essay competition will also be available as will be the entire Student Journal.
As such, we believe that our website will fulfill all of the expected outcomes listed in Objectives section of the Call for Proposals. EU CENTERS 2008-11

Proposal Narrative Form
4.A.7. Any Other Activity Costs Not Listed Above. Describe and explain the timing and impact of any additional activities to be included in your planned activities, for each academic year of the 2008-11 grant period. Please also specify how these activities will further the program policy objectives and produce the related outcomes set out in section II of the Call for Proposals, and provide measurable criteria for evaluating their implementation. Attach additional page(s) if necessary.
EU CENTERS 2008-11

Proposal Narrative Form
SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITIES²
4.A.8. Network Coordinator (optional) Centers may apply to serve as the Network Coordinator for EU Centers of Excellence operating in the United States, receiving up to €60,000 total towards approved costs for the 2008-9, 2009-10, and 2010-11 academic years, beyond the €300,000 maximum for core Center activities.
Network Coordinator responsibilities will include hosting the annual meeting of EU Center of Excellence directors, and hosting and maintaining the EU Centers Network website. For planning purposes, as many as 30 individuals may participate in the annual EUCE Directors meeting, with the Network Coordinator financially responsible for all meeting room, staffing, and catering costs. The Coordinator will also identify a suitable hotel for individual accommodations. Meeting participants will be required to pay for their own travel and accommodations.
Interested applicants should describe their planning for the hosting, maintenance and expansion of the Network website (see www.euce.org), and arrangements for hosting the annual meeting of Center Directors. Applicants are also free to suggest other activities to promote networking among the EU Centers of Excellence, and should provide measurable criteria for evaluating the Network Coordinator’s performance. Attach additional page(s) if necessary.