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Outreach Activities

OUTREACH NEWS

Euro Challenge Opens!

The High School Euro Challenge is a national academic competition targeting students in grades 9 and 10. Supported by the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States, the Euro Challenge is designed to develop and expand students’ knowledge of the European Union (EU), the European economy and the euro. Students in social studies, global studies, economics, world history/geography or European studies classes will especially benefit from participating in this innovative and fun educational competition.

Find out more about the Euro Challenge.

Find out more about the Orientation Workshop.

An Educational Trip to Brussels for Two Wisconsin Teachers

The Delegation of the European Commission to the U.S. organized its first annual educational trip to Brussels, Belgium from June 20 to June 25, 2009. The UW-Madison’s European Union Center of Excellence participated in this outstanding educational opportunity by inviting two Wisconsin high school teachers to travel to Brussels. William Gibson of Madison’s East High School and Brigitte Musallam of Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids joined a group of about 25 secondary school teachers and university students from across the U.S. for the week long program.

Click here to learn more about the trip, read their testimonials, and look at the photo album.

OMCNET

Understanding the evolving architecture of EU governance is especially significant for US scholars, policymakers, businesses, and citizens in light of the growing influence on transatlantic relations of the EU’s internal governance structures and regulatory practices.

Innovative forms of EU governance such as the Open Method of Coordination [OMC] have begun to attract widespread attention from academics and policymakers in other parts of the world as a promising tool for enhancing implementation of national commitments within international organizations, deepening policy coordination within regional trading blocs, and improving multi-level governance within federal systems like that of the United States.

The EUCE maintains and continuously updates the online OMC Bibliography, a resource which is widely consulted and cited by scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners across both Europe and the United States.

As part of the Center's ongoing mission to promote academic and policy dialogue about EU issues, and in pursuit of the EUCE theme The New Architecture of EU Governance, this forum makes available recent published and forthcoming work on the OMC to researchers, policy makers, and other qualified users. The forum is password protected; those interested in subscribing are welcome to contact the editor.

K-12 OUTREACH

Annual K-12 Teacher Workshops

PAST WORKSHOPS:

18-23 June 2006: "Outside Looking In: Citizenship in the New Europe"

This workshop, intended for teachers of grades 7-12, focused on issues of inclusion and exclusion in the New Europe. Who is a citizen? What does it mean to be European when the boundaries of Europe are expanding? Who is a minority? What types of discrimination occur and to whom? How have identities been realigned and redefined in the region?

Read a report about this workshop in the ESA newsletter!

For information about this and other Europe-related workshops for K-12 teachers, see the website of the Center for European Studies

EU Simulation Modules. These modules, created by the UW-Madison EUCE, are intended for use in grades 6-12. On each simulation website you will find materials for holding an in-class simulation of the EU policy-making process. Material is geared towards middle and high-school levels, but may well be used at the college level as a general introduction to the EU. Two modules have been developed so far:

- The EU Chocolate Directive

The chocolate simulation is a novel way to teach students about the European Union and some of the important issues its members must deal with as the EU becomes increasingly integrated. Student teams represent a member country, develop a position regarding chocolate regulation and scheme to reach the best outcome for their country.

- Parental Leave Policy in the European Union

For more information about either of these modules, please contact the Outreach Coordinator.

K-12 Teaching Resources.

Our K-12 Teaching Resources page lists more links that may be useful.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Collaboration with Business, Service, and Interest Groups. EUCE affiliates regularly transmit information about current and emerging transatlantic foreign policy and other significant international issues to a broad community audience. Among our most important partners is the Chicago Council on Global Affairs , one of the largest independent, non-profit international affairs organizations in the Midwest with a membership of over 7,000. We also collaborate with a wide variety of local and regional governmental and business associations, including the Madison Committee on Foreign Relations, the Madison International Trade Association, and various local chapters of Rotary International. Outreach events feature prominent policy makers and allow local participants the opportunity to engage in candid discussion of important business, foreign policy, and international topics.