The Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs welcomes three new colleagues: Bruna Celic, Gráinne McEvoy, and Rebekah Prince.
Bruna Celic joins the Institute as research program coordinator. With a background in human rights, EU integration, and conflict resolution, focusing particularly on the Western Balkans, Celic brings a wealth of expertise that will help advance the Institute’s research profile and enrich its infrastructure for supporting faculty- and student-led projects and initiatives. Celic is new to Notre Dame and to South Bend. Most recently, she was a program assistant at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, DC. She worked previously at the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding in New York. Celic holds a Masters in nationalism and ethnic conflict from University College Dublin and a B.A. in politics and human rights from the University of Essex.
Even before her arrival in South Bend, Celic has made a fruitful start in her new role. Celic, whose parents are Croatian, made time during a trip to see family this summer to visit the Catholic University of Croatia in Zagreb, a partner institute in Nanovic’s Catholic Universities Partnership. She had an opportunity to meet with Rector Željko Tanjić to discuss the history of the partnership and plans for future collaborations.
Gráinne McEvoy has been the Nanovic Institute’s communications specialist since March. As a writer, researcher, and teacher, McEvoy has worked within the higher education and research environment for over 15 years. She joins the Institute from Notre Dame’s Office of Mission Engagement where she worked as a research assistant from May 2019. Before settling in South Bend in 2018, McEvoy moved between her native Ireland and the U.S. more than once. A historian by training, she was a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin and worked for the Irish Research Council. She holds a Ph.D. in history from Boston College, and masters and undergraduate degrees from Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Edinburgh.
Since joining the Nanovic team, McEvoy has contributed stories on the John Lukacs Collection, the Keeley Vatican Lecture, and the Nanovic Forum, and a variety of Institute events and student activities, as well as working on the redesign of the Nanovic Institute website.
Rebekah Prince takes up the role of the Institute’s events coordinator. Her experience in events planning includes her most recent position as an events coordinator at Goshen College and previous work as banquet supervisor for Oakwood Resort in Syracuse, Indiana. Prince studied communications and spanish at Grace College, which included a semester of study in Madrid.
Prince will play a crucial role at Nanovic, managing events and supporting the Institute’s commitment to providing a home and a welcome for students and scholars of European studies. During her short time at the Institute, she has already helped coordinate some key events for the beginning of the academic year, including Nanovic’s welcome week events, the campus visit by Austria’s Ambassador to the United States, Martin Weiss, and Nanovic’s Eurocup undergraduate trivia night.
“We are excited to welcome our new colleagues and to see our Nanovic team grow,” says Clemens Sedmak, director of the Nanovic Institute and professor of social ethics. “Bruna brings to the Institute refreshing enthusiasm, vast international experience and expertise, and even Croatian language skills. Gráinne, I can say after five months, is a fantastic colleague with a deep sensitivity with words, ample academic experience as a historian, and a great Irish sense of humor. We are grateful to have Rebekah support us with her skills as an event coordinator and with her kindness, precision and reliability, all of which are important qualities for the person who will welcome visitors to our Institute. Each of our new three colleagues will be essential as we maintain our existing calendar of events for students, faculty, and the Notre Dame community, and as we grow the institute’s research portfolio in the coming years.”