Mission Statement

The Center for European and Eurasian Studies (CEES) at Michigan State University strives to bring together scholars and students to support teaching and research about Europe and Eurasia and serve as a resource about the area for all members of the University community and for other Michigan groups. To better serve its local constituents, CEES actively seeks international partnerships, exchanges, and connections with national peers. 

About the Center

The Center was established by combining the Western European Studies and Russian and East European Studies programs into a Center that explores linkages and studies emerging challenges that transcend the cold war divisions of Europe and Eurasia.

CEES brings together an interdisciplinary community of scholars, instructors, and students with expertise and interests in Europe or Eurasia. The Center creates and supports partnerships with international institutions and raises awareness of emerging challenges across both continents. New partnership agreements currently being developed cross a broad range of disciplines including Agriculture, Education, Medicine, Public Policy, Fisheries and Wildlife, and Veterinary Medicine.

The Center offers undergraduate minors in Russian and Eurasian Studies as well as European Studies. The Director of CEES coordinates the Russian and Eurasian Studies minor with the College of Arts and Letters. The European Studies minor is administered by an Advisory Committee in conjunction with CEES; the record keeping and certification to the Registrar are handled by James Madison College. 

In partnership with the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures in the College of Arts and Letters, CEES continues to work with the Asian Studies Center to support MSU's extensive less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) program. Languages spoken in the CEES region are taught by faculty in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures and the Department of Romance and Classical Studies. These languages include Finnish, French, German, Italian, Kazakh, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish,  Ukrainian, Uzbek, and Yiddish.