EUSA Conference

Florence, Italy. While the spring semester of JMU’s European Union Policy Studies (EUPS) program has just gotten underway, students and faculty are already looking ahead to March, when the program will be well-represented at the Biennial EUSA Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. The conference, which features EU experts and practitioners from around the world, will focus on “The EU After the Crisis: Phoenix or Albatross.” Conferees will discuss a wide range of topics, from democracy and mobilization in the age of “Euroskepticism,” to the status of negotiations on a new transatlantic trade and investment deal, to the EU’s evolving role in Ukraine, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Program faculty, students, and alumni will present research at the EUSA conference.  Program Director John Scherpereel, alum Jerry Wohlgemuth, and graduate assistant Peg Schmelzinger will present “Exploring Variation in MEPs’ Adoption and Use of Twitter as a Representational Tool.” Academic Coordinator Caterina Paolucci and graduate assistant Ryan Prusator will present “A Portrait of the New Italian MEPs: Women, Young and … Revolutionary?” And alum Lauren Perez and Dr. Scherpereel will present “Ministerial Turnover and the Locus of Decision-making in the Council of the European Union.”  

The conference is an important professional development opportunity for graduate assistants Schmelzinger and Prusator (Class of 2015). Established in the fall of 2014, the research assistantship positions are designed to give students hands-on professional research experience while completing their one-year masters degree in political science. “The ability to travel to an international conference while representing JMU is a real privilege. I’m looking forward to presenting our research and meeting other academics and researchers in our field,” said Schmelzinger.

In addition to its biennial conference, the EUSA (European Union Studies Association) produces a quarterly review of EU affairs and EU Studies. The most recent (Spring 2015) issue of the EUSA Review featured Dr. Scherpereel’s article, “Involving Policy Practitioners in EU Simulations.” The article highlights the EUPS Model EU Simulation as an example of how EU practitioners can use their experience and knowledge of EU foreign policy to promote learning by European and American students.

For more information about the EUPS program, please see the websie www.jmu.edu/eupolicystudies or email jmu.eupsgradassist@gmail.com.

To follow EUPS during the conference on social media see its official social media pages: www.facebook.com/jmueups, www.twitter.com/jmu_eups, and www.instagram.com/jmu_eups.  

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