NYU's Center for European and Mediterranean Studies (CEMS) serves as the University's interdisciplinary hub for teaching, research and programming on Europe and the Mediterranean — from both a historical and contemporary perspective. With a primary focus on teaching, CEMS offers a Bachelor of Arts (Major and Minor in European and Mediterranean Studies), Master of Arts in European and Mediterranean Studies, and joint degrees with NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and LIU's Palmer School of Library and Information Science. CEMS also provides support for doctoral candidates in related disciplines from across the university. In addition, CEMS maintains an active calendar of workshops, lectures and conferences, many of which are open to the public.
CEMS received a European Commission's Erasmus + Jean Monnet Activities award. The award provided co-sponsorship of a two-year project focusing on the Mediterranean as the southern limit of continental Europe and, today, of the EU. The project, which involved conferences, lectures, and other activities, considered the historical significance of the Mediterranean as the space of Europe's encounters with North Africa and the Middle East. It also encompassed the recent challenges of Mediterranean religious and cultural encounters as experienced through immigration, the issues of the South in the current European economy, the dilemmas of EU expansion in southern Europe, the question of Europe's future relation with Turkey, and the challenges of commerce and energy on the Mediterranean.
NYU houses eight institutions in addition to CEMS that focus exclusively on European studies. CEMS students are welcomed and encouraged to take courses, attend lectures, and generally become involved with the European-focused institutions at NYU.