Strategic Plan
Strategic Plan
Engaging Big Questions and ‘Peripheries’ in Europe: 2021-2026
Goal 1: Fostering the education and formation of students
The Nanovic Institute retains its focus on the education and formation of undergraduate students—through curricular offerings, events, networking, research and service opportunities. The pedagogical vision animating the undergraduate student learning experience is “bridge-building.” By closely studying Europe, its languages, cultures, societies, politics, and histories, students can build meaningful social and intellectual bridges to the continent, thereby fostering academic growth, intellectual creativity, and personal development. The Institute will intensify its efforts to enrich opportunities for undergraduate students at Notre Dame. At the same time, the Institute will invest in the support, mentoring, accompaniment, and professional development of graduate students of European studies.
Goal 2: Elevating the research profile and academic visibility of the Institute
As an academic unit of a research university, the Nanovic Institute will increase its visibility and profile as a research and teaching institute and develop research projects in collaboration with individuals and institutional partners. Such collaborative, interdisciplinary, and international research projects will be designed to attract external funding and contribute to the landscape of European studies.
Goal 3: Maintaining and expanding strategic collaborations
Through its visiting scholar programs, the Catholic Universities Partnership, and the networks of its faculty fellows, the Nanovic Institute has built an international base of collaborators. These initiatives will be maintained and expanded. At the same time, the Institute will invest in new partnerships in Europe by collaborating on specific projects with academic and non-academic partners. Thereby, the Institute will increase Notre Dame’s presence in Europe.
Goal 4: Building a vibrant intellectual community
The Nanovic Institute will continue and deepen its tradition of hospitality and intellectual discourse by fostering a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive intellectual community constituted by its faculty fellows, graduate student fellows, undergraduate students, and visiting scholars. The Institute will offer formats and fora to facilitate debate and exchange and to foster the creation of an intellectual community. It will be intentional about the exploration of big questions as well as responses to current developments, and the cultivation of a perspective on Europe that decenters the center and enlarges the map. The Institute will pay special attention to the peripheries of Europe and people on the margins, fulfilling our commitment to inclusiveness and a more diverse and nuanced understanding of what it means to be European.