"United states" is a term long associated with America. But it is increasingly becoming a common label for countries on the other side of the Atlantic.
For this reason, the International Relations Department brought to the forefront the increasing need for maintaining the relationship between the European Union and the United States.
The European body has significantly expanded in the past few decades. In addition to uniting most member countries under a common currency, it now hosts members from places ranging from Portugal to former Soviet states.
The rising power of the European Union has also been seen in exchange rates that have resulted in rising prices for Americans studying abroad -- the euro has risen 50 percent against the dollar in the past five years alone.
Participating in the dialogue were former U.S. ambassador to the Czech and Slovak republics Adrian Basora and Frank Biancheri, director of research and strategy for the European think tank Europe 2020.
Both stressed the importance of maintaining a partnership between the United States and the European Union despite problems that currently limit any further cooperation between the two powers.
"It will be a relationship that will depend on the general assessment of each country's public opinion towards the other," Biancheri said.
They also discussed the European Union's evolution towards a federal bloc and the various issues it faces in the process.
"We are pushing democracy to an extent that nobody else has done before," he said.
"However, our main task is knowing that contenders exist who do not share the same democratic ideals," he added, referring to a recent surge of populist and xenophobic forces in Europe.
The discussion then opened up to a multitude of questions that ranged from immigration and minority issues to Turkey's entry into the European Union.
Although Basora and Biancheri shared similar views, some attendees did not echo their opinions.
"I think Mr. Biancheri was very idealistic," community resident Ed Zenzola, 62, said. "I don't see a near solution to the problems affecting the E.U. I don't think there was a definitive conclusion to this talk."
Tim Weaver, 24, of the Foreign Policy Institute found the speakers "too sanguine about integration."
The event was hosted by James McGann, a Villanova professor and director of the Think Tanks and Civil Society Program, and Frank Plantan, co-director of the International Relations Program at Penn.
