IMPACT OF THE PROGRAM UPON THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY AND EXTERNAL OUTREACH CONSTITUENCIES: The EU Center of Excellence will connect the vibrant community of scholars and students on campus and inform them of the opportunities that the campus already provides while increasing awareness of new opportunities that the Center will initiate.
The Center will also involve Austin’s vibrant community of policy makers, stake holders, secondary school teachers/students, and business professionals in its activities. Austin is the capital of Texas and as such it is the nerve center of the government and state policy activity. The Center will become the main source of information for ideas and advice on European affairs, both in the realm of public policy and business. Austin is also a city of “ideas,” home to important high technology and media industries (Dell, 3M, Motorola, etc.). We intend to use UT’s already strong and established links with the Texas State Capitol and the business community to push the Center to the forefront.
We will involve the Texas business community in our events and conferences. Aside from collaborating with entrepreneurs in conference preparation, we also intend to provide the business community with events and information that they will be able to use in their day-to-day activities. We therefore intend to host a large conference summit and a series of lectures for the business community (in conjunction with our professional schools) on how to invest in Europe and how to learn more about European regulatory practices.
We will involve the Governor’s Office as well as the members and staff of the Texas Legislature in our events and activities. We will bring Texas policy makers together with European academics/policy-makers and aim to engender a discussion on how Texas can learn from European policy solutions in the realm of border control, public health, public transportation, urban planning, and educational policy. We intend to illustrate to Texas legislators and policy makers that many of the same problems they face are encountered by government officials in Europe, and that, just as threats and problems can cross borders in our contemporary world, so can solutions.
The Center will also reach out to the universities and colleges in the surrounding Central Texas area and thus involve a wider number of students and researchers in its funding opportunities and conference preparations. We intend to collaborate with the entire University of Texas system of schools (nine universities and six health institutions with a total of over 210,000 students) as well as with Central Texas universities and colleges that will form our partnership network: Texas State University (San Marcos), Texas Lutheran University (Seguin), Houston-Tillotson University (Austin), Concordia University (Austin), St. Edwards University (Austin), and Austin Community College. Of special importance, in an effort to reach a minority population, we will develop EU content-based classes at Huston-Tillotson, a historically black college in the heart of Austin and not far from UT.
