SOUTH BEND, Ind. | A Maine couple has donated $10 million to the University of Notre Dame to expand its program focusing on the study of European affairs.

The donation by Robert S. and Elizabeth Nanovic of North Yarmouth, Maine, was announced Monday. The Nanovic Institute was established in 1993 with a previous gift from the couple. It has organized conferences, seminars and lectures on such issues as nationalism, citizenship, ethnicity, Catholicism and the place of Europe in the international community.

"The Nanovics have been friends and benefactors of the university for many years," said the Rev. John I. Jenkins, president of the university.

More than 100 Notre Dame faculty members from a dozen departments hold appointments as Nanovic fellows. Other institute initiatives include a visiting scholars program and research grants for faculty, graduate students and undergraduates.