Professionals and employers from a range of organizations, private and public, profit and non-profit, have endorsed UVA’s new M.A. program in European Studies and find that it offers students skills that can be applied effectively in the job market. They value in particular its interdisciplinary nature, its blending of the social sciences with the humanities; its emphasis on foreign language mastery; the field experience in Europe; as well as the cultivation of capacity for original research.
- “Our international law firm would benefit greatly from graduates of such a program. As one of the largest law firms in the world, we have over 2,200 lawyers in 32 offices globally. In Europe, we are located eleven cities with over five-hundred lawyers in total. It is part of the fabric of this firm that our offices include a mix of people from various countries, and our clients appreciate greatly being able to draw on that resource. It is exceedingly difficult to find the right caliber people for our offices, and the … [M.A.] program [in European Studies] would address that need directly.”
C. Mark Nicolaides Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP, consistently ranked among the world's top global law firms
- "A particular benefit of the [M.A.] degree in European Studies is its interdisciplinary focus. Exposure to multiple disciplines is highly valuable in many types of library work, from providing reference services to processing archival materials, to managing collections across formats, including digital. A the New York Public Library, we are finding the global perspective increasingly important."
Ann Thornton, The Andrew W. Mellon Director of New York Public Libraries
- The “M.A. program in European Studies… would provide a very useful background for someone interested in working in an organization such as the Foreign Policy Association, or other international nonprofits with which I am familiar. …It’s crucial for anyone writing or editing for us to have an understanding of outside points of view, including an ability to read foreign press and scholarly articles. Europe plays such an important role in U.S. defense and economic policy that a familiarity with Europe and European languages would certainly make a job applicant extremely attractive.”
Karen M. Rohan, Editor in Chief, Foreign Policy Association.
- “…this is clearly an exciting new degree program that is the first, to my knowledge, to reconceptualize the meaning of Europe in an interdisciplinary context. …Graduates of your program will receive advanced training in the social sciences and humanities, emerge with usable foreign language skills, have an intensive experience within Europe itself, and be able to conduct original research on European themes. They will clearly emerge with a broad European outlook. These are precisely the kind of skills that we at the Kosciusko Foundation are looking for in staffing our various educational and cultural programs. Moreover, I am confident that many similar not-for-profit organizations dealing with European and international issues would value the kinds of students that your program promises to graduate.”
Dr. John Micgiel, President of the Kosciuszko Foundation: The American Center of Polish Culture (New York City & Washington, D.C.); Former Executive Director of Columbia University’s European Institute
- “The program...provides an excellent preparation for students who hope to pursue careers in international business, banking and government as well as those who want to go on to do doctoral work on Europe.”
F. Stephen Larrabee, Distinguished Chair in European Society, The Rand Corporation
- This “M.A. in European Studies, which seeks to integrate the social sciences and the humanities, would match what is very evident in the actual development of the region. Further, the requirement to learn a language and study abroad at a European partner institution is impressive, appropriate and in keeping with UVa’s commitment to rigorous academic preparation. Few academic programs are evolving rapidly enough to address ... the [changing] sense of Europe and European identity.”
Dr. Eric Rudenshiold, Staff Director, House Democracy Partnership, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives
- UVa's "M.A. in European Studies would offer candidates a threshold degree for work as a curator or registrar. I know that other museum professionals would join me in endorsing the concept of any graduate program that raised awareness in this country of the importance of Europe and the European Union as a trading partner and interlocutor in cultural exchanges."
Bruce Boucher, Director, Sir John Soane’s Museum, London (former Director, Fralin Art Museum)