The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (JMCE) will be a hub on the UNC campus prepared to serve a campus-wide, state-wide, national and transatlantic community, with leading research and teaching as well as events and knowledge platforms on European Union Studies. The new JMCE, ‘The EU: its People, Policies, and Politics’, will bring current and pertinent issues facing the EU today, such as immigration, social policy, and EU integration, to campus to foster dialogue amongst researchers, undergraduate, masters, and PhD students, civil society actors as well as the wider public. The JMCE will extend the research programme on EU studies, which is already a particular strength at UNC, promote EU studies among students through the teaching of new courses, while events will foster dialogue on EU studies between various target groups. Furthermore, JMCE deliverables will reach and inform a broad audience. These modes of dissemination include publications, a bi-monthly digital newsletter and a website, including a new blog feature on EU issues, daily Twitter, and Facebook posts. The website will include open educational resources such as a new virtual learning platform with content and results from the seven dedicated JMCE events and two courses. The JMCE will build upon a long-standing tradition of EU studies at UNC. The JMCE will be linked to the Centre for European Studies (CES), which was founded in 1994 and is an EU Centre of Excellence as well as a US National Resource Centre. CES houses the undergraduate major in Contemporary European Studies (EURO) and the TransAtlantic Masters programme (TAM). The JMCE will cement the academic activities relating to EU studies on campus as well as broaden visibility on, interest in, and understanding of the European Union throughout the local community and across the Atlantic – while building lasting partnerships for many years to come.