Founded in 1948 with a grant by the Carnegie Corporation, The European Institute at Columbia University is the oldest institution dedicated to the study of Europe in the United States. Over the last half century, the Institute has been a leading center of research and instruction on Europe, recognized by public agencies and private foundations as a major international resource.   

In its early years, under the leadership of University President Dwight Eisenhower and Provost Grayson Kirk, the Institute met a critical demand for specialists to implement the Marshall Plan, contribute to the strategy of NATO and related Cold War security issues, and support the development of the European Community. 

In its middle years, guided by Professor Philip Mosely, the Institute focused on human rights issues in Eastern Europe, settling émigré intellectuals in the United States, and building repositories of European materials and publications. At the turn of the twenty-first century, after a long period in which the study of Western and Eastern Europe was divided along Cold War lines, The European Institute under Professor Volker Berghahn, turned to examining the new challenges facing a reunified Europe and the rapidly evolving transatlantic relationship.

Most recently, led by Professor Victoria de Grazia, The European Institute has broadened to address differences and commonalities in European and American responses to globalization. The Institute’s research agenda has expanded accordingly, approaching Europe and the transatlantic relationship in an international and transregional perspective by developing projects on The Great Powers in the Mediterranean, Global Commercial Revolutions, and Varieties of Soft Power.