Dear EU Center community,

Welcome back to campus! As we embark on what is sure to be a year of transition and reinvention, I would like to take this moment to greet all of you and share some important news.

As some of you may know, Emanuel Rota is on a medical leave this year and is stepping back from running the EU Center. He has ably led the EUC for more than five years, which includes securing major grants, planning interesting programming, developing partnerships across campus, and navigating a global pandemic. We will miss Manuel this year and wish him a speedy recovery.

The College of LAS has appointed an Acting Director for this academic year. We are lucky to be able to welcome back Bryan Endres, a professor of food and agricultural law in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. Bryan is no doubt familiar to some of you, since he directed the EU Center from 2010 to 2013. Please join me in welcoming him back and expressing our appreciation to him for taking on this important role.

We will continue to support the study of and interest in Europe and the EU through our commitment to language and area studies at the University of Illinois as well as in our broader communities in the Midwest and beyond. Many thanks to our partners at the U.S. Department of Education, the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence program, the FACE Foundation, and the Aspen Institute Deutschland for supporting our work.

We look forward to working with you and supporting the amazing work that you do!

Sincerely,

Markian Dobczansky

Associate Director, European Union Center