Undergraduate Program in European Studies

The program in European Studies provides undergraduates with an opportunity to study Europe from the vantage points of several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Because Europe is both a geographical place and an idea which changes throughout history, it has had different meanings at different times and in different places. The study of Europe thus requires an open, pluralistic, and interdisciplinary curriculum that takes a critical approach to the idea (or ideas of) Europe. The program provides a multidisciplinary view of Europe as a whole and of its historical, political, and cultural formation and global implications. It also provides a focus on a specific area of European experience that cuts across traditional disciplinary and national boundaries.

Optional major specializations are offered in Italian Studies and Russian Studies.

Career Opportunities

A degree in European Studies prepares its graduates to enter advanced degree programs in international business, history, law, and political science. The strong academic skills and professional orientation acquired by European Studies majors are necessary to pursue successful careers in such fields as international banking, law, journalism, management, public relations, publishing, and government service. Humanities graduates in general learn to express ideas clearly, do independent research, and think analytically and imaginatively—the required tools for success beyond the undergraduate career.

The UCI Career Center provides services to students and alumni including career counseling, information about job opportunities, a career library, and workshops on resume preparation, job search, and interview techniques. See the Career Center section for additional information.

	Maxime Bey-Rozet bey.rozet@uci.edu Faculty Profile Assistant Professor of European Languages and Studies; French Interests: Extreme cinemas, 20th century French literature and culture, French cinema and television, trauma studies, industry studies, memory studies
	Anke Biendarra abiendar@uci.edu Faculty Profile Associate Professor European Languages and Studies; German; Chair of European Languages and Studies Interests: German and European literature and culture of the 20th/21st century, esp. pop literature, GDR/reunification. Critical European Culture Studies, migration studies, transnationalism, memory studies, gender studies.
	Philip Broadbent pmb@uci.edu Faculty Profile Assistant Professor of Teaching of European Languages and Studies; German; Director of the German Language Program Interests: Contemporary literature and history; politics and the urban space; German language learning
	Kai Evers kevers@uci.edu Faculty Profile Associate Professor of European Languages and Studies; German; Director of European Studies Interests: Modernist literature, German film, European studies, Catastrophic Imagination and Representations of War, Violence, and Risk
	Christophe Litwin christophe.litwin@uci.edu Faculty Profile Associate Professor of European Languages and Studies and Philosophy; French; German Joint Faculty; Director of French Interests: Early Modern European/French moral and political philosophy. La Boétie, Montaigne, Descartes, Hobbes, Pascal, Malebranche, Hume, Rousseau, Diderot, Kant, Hegel...
	Catherine Malabou cmalabou@uci.edu Faculty Profile Professor of Comparative Literature and European Languages and Studies; French; German Joint Faculty Interests: German Idealism, Contemporary French Philosophy, Critical Theory, Neurobiology, Epigenetics
	Pantalea Mazzitello pmazzite@uci.edu Faculty Profile Assistant Professor of Teaching of European Languages and Studies; Italian. Director of the Italian Language Program Interests: Renaissance and Early Modern Studies; Medieval Studies; Italian Literature, Culture and Society
	David Pan dtpan@uci.edu Faculty Profile Professor of European Languages and Studies; German; Director of German; Director of Graduate Studies Interests: Eighteenth-, Nineteenth-, and Twentieth-century German Literature and Intellectual history, Johann Georg Hamann, Heinrich von Kleist, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bertolt Brecht, Frankfurt School Critical Theory, Carl Schmitt
	Deanna Shemek dshemek@uci.edu Faculty Profile Professor, European Languages and Studies; Italian; Director of Italian Interests: Italian literature, Italian and European history, women and gender studies, Renaissance and early modern studies, digital humanities, history of communications media
	Georges Van Den Abbeele gvandena@uci.edu Faculty Profile Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and European Languages and Studies; French Interests: French and European philosophical literature, travel narrative and tourism/migration studies; critical theory and aesthetics

Students of European Studies are encouraged to seek out and take advantage of opportunities to study abroad in Europe.

The University of California offers as part of its large and successful Education Abroad Program (UCEAP) numerous options for study abroad in Europe. UCEAP has programs for all levels of language competency from absolute beginner to advanced student, for undergraduates and for graduate students. UCEAP is solely intended for UC students, and the courses students take abroad automatically earn them UC credit.

In addition to UCEAP programs, the UCI Study Abroad Center has information on programs connected to other institutions and will advise you on applying for those programs and receiving UCI credit for courses taken through them.

Funding Resources for Study Abroad

European Studies students may apply for the European Studies Travel-Study Award to help fund travel abroad in an approved program of study. The call is sent out each spring and the awardees are announced at the department's end-of-year awards celebration.

In addition, students are encouraged to seek other study abroad funding resources:

U.S. Graduate Programs in European Studies

Funding Opportunities

General Information

Association of American Colleges and Universities - Founded in 2003, the Center for Liberal Education and Civic Enagagement seeks to deepen understandings of the relation of liberal education to service and civic responsibilities.
Gateway to the European Union - For General Information on the European Union as well as on specific member states (with loads of links for each country!), the following 'portal' to the European Union is great!
UCLA's Center for European and Eurasian Studies
West European Studies Section - WESS is a section within the Association of College and Research Libraries that is professionally involved in the acquisition, organization, and use of information sources originating in or related to Western European countries.

News and Magazines

Contact European Languages and Studies

Subscribe to our newsletter