The European Studies Alliance is the home of four nationally recognized Centers:

• Center for German and European Studies
• European Union Center of Excellence
• Center for European Studies
• Center for Interdisciplinary French Studies

Each Center pursues its own range of intellectual and programmatic activities. The ESA provides a common profile for European Studies at UW-Madison by coordinating the classroom, research, and public affairs undertakings that all four Centers pursue in the same area.

• A German Marshall Fund award in 1998 to establish the last of five Centers for German and European Studies to be founded in the United States in cooperation with the German government and administered by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).
  
• A grant from the Commission of the European Union in 1998 to establish the European Union Center. In 2005 the center was one of 10 in the the U.S. to be awarded a new grant as a European Union Center of Excellence for the period 2005-08.
  
• A grant from the U.S. Department of Education in 2000 to fund a Center for European Studies that serves as a Title VI National Resource Center (one of ten such centers nationally for European Studies). Funding for the center was recently renewed for the period 2006-2010.
  
• A French Government grant in 2001 to create a Center for Interdisciplinary French Studies, one of twelve such centers in the country.

These four awards are the most competitive and the most prestigious in the field of European Studies. UW-Madison’s ability to win all four competitions is a performance unmatched by any other university in the United States.

ESA’s Common Goals

To create new and interdisciplinary courses for undergraduate and graduate students that prepare them to work in the global economy and policy arenas

To pursue innovative research that provides Wisconsin and American businesses and citizens with essential insights into the workings of contemporary Europe

To build on current scholarly networks and student exchanges to enhance transatlantic learning in the humanities, social sciences and in the professional fields.

To reach out to businesses, legislators, journalists, secondary schools and the broader community in Wisconsin and the Midwest with a variety of programs that expand knowledge about Europe.