A distinguished philosopher of history from the University of Marne-la-Vallée in France will lecture at the University on May 6.

Chantal Millon-Delsol, director of the Center for European Studies, will speak at 4 p.m. in the Milton Stern Lounge (Room 339) in Arjona Hall. Her talk is part of a two-day conference, "Europe: Unity and Diversity."

She will lecture about the different perspectives people have had over the years on whether they think of Europe as separate countries or one entity. Millon-Delsol will speak in French but a written summary in English will be available.

She has published a major work on the philosophical background of the concept of Europe.

"She wants people to think of Europe as one body," said Marvin Cox, professor of history and co-director of the Center for European Studies. "Through her work she tries to show that historically there has always been a feeling of a united Europe."

Cox hopes her talk will be the beginning of a joint venture between UConn, Marne-la-Vallée and the College of New Europe in Krakow, Poland.

Millon-Delsol has been working with eastern European universities to come up to speed with western education.

"One of the problems with the cold war was that scholars in eastern Europe were not exposed to research in western Europe and America," Cox said. "If given the chance we can assist Madame Millon in such courses such as business, science and engineering. If this can be done, it will help the countries in the eastern bloc integrate successfully into the European Union."

UConn is not the only institution hoping to work with Millon-Delsol. Marianapolis Preparatory School in Thompson, which is co-sponsoring the conference on Europe, would like to collaborate on this project by reaching out to secondary Catholic schools. The second day of the conference will be held at Marianapolis on May 8.

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