Willson Center, Franklin College, Notre Dame, host Berlin seminar

Scholars, policy experts and journalists from around the world will meet in Berlin this month to consider issues related to contemporary transnational Europe at the inaugural Berlin Seminar in Transnational European Studies, a new joint initiative by the University of Georgia and the University of Notre Dame:

The seminar is directed by Martin Kagel, A.G. Steer Professor of German and associate dean of the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences; William C. Donahue, the Rev. John C. Cavanaugh, C.S.C., Professor of the Humanities and chair of the department of German and Russian languages and literatures at Notre Dame; and Nicholas Allen, Franklin Professor of English and director of the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at UGA.

“Our goal in creating the Berlin Seminar was to provide a professional development opportunity for UGA and Notre Dame faculty and graduate students centered around European studies,” Kagel said. “Our hope is that we can bring both the focus and energy of our discussions in Berlin and the ideas that emerge from the meeting back to campus to continue the conversation here and have the experience result in instructional innovation and new research projects.”

UGA participants include Ph.D. students and faculty from three different colleges and seven different departments.

In addition to six days of programs for registered participants, the seminar will include two public events: a conversation on “Transatlantic Relations in a Trumpian World” led by Cas Mudde, associate professor in UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs and a columnist for The Guardian, with Sudha David-Wilp, deputy director of the German Marshall Fund, and CNN European correspondent Atika Shubert; and a lecture on “Brexit and the Crisis of Belonging” by writer Fintan O’Toole, winner of the 2017 European Press Prize for commentary.

The seminar takes place from May 27 to June, and a complete schedule is available here. Best wishes for a great seminar to our colleagues meeting in Spreeathen.

Image: author photo of the Brandenburg Gate, one of Berlin's most recognizable monuments.