Our research partner: Prof. Gabriel Andreescu and his graduate class at the SNSPA in Bucharest

Professor Gabriel Andreescu

Gabriel Andreescu is Professor with the Department of Political Science at the National School for Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA) in Bucharest, and an active member of several Romanian human rights organizations. He is also a journalist, writing and lecturing on topics such as multiculturalism, national minorities, religious freedom and secularism, and the ethics and politics of memory. He is editor of the Romanian-language New Journal of Human Rights.

Biography

Andreescu obtained a BA in Physics from the University of Bucharest. Between 1983 -1987, Andreescu dispatched clandestine information on human rights abuses in Romania to Radio Free Europe and wrote several anti-communist articles and studies. He was arrested for his anti-communist activities in December 1987 and indicted for treason (but freed in January 1988). After the anti-Communist revolution Andreescu became a member of the first post-Communist governmental body (he soon resigned). He founded and headed organizations developing strategies and projects in support of human and minority rights. He was a member of the scientific boards of other organizations.


Since 1990, Andreescu abandoned his career as a physicist to continue his activism for human and minority rights, democracy, and the rule of law. His work as a human rights activist, political analyst, journalist, and writer blended with academic teaching and research. In 2003, he obtained a PhD in Political Sciences, and recently, the habilitation doctorate. In recognition of his human rights activism and contribution to the development of Romanian civil society, Andreescu received several awards from Romanian or international  institutions and organizations: He published more than 1000 articles, 100 studies, 26 books, and contributed to several collective volumes. Some of his works were translated into English, Italian, German and Hungarian.

And a little about me, Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan:

Professor Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan

Dr. Scourfield McLauchlan is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, where she teaches courses in American Government and Public Law. 

McLauchlan was awarded the American Political Science Association and Pi Sigma Alpha's Certificate for Outstanding Teaching in Political Science, USF's Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the USF Outstanding Faculty Award, and was named one of the Top 25 Women Professors in Florida. She has published widely in the scholarship of teaching and learning (focused on the integration of civic engagement in the curriculum), and she has presented those findings at regional, national and international conferences. 

Her book Congressional Participation as Amicus Curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court explores how Members of Congress attempt to influence Supreme Court decision-making in specific cases. 

In addition to her scholarly activities, Professor McLauchlan has extensive experience in American government and politics. McLauchlan worked at the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the White House. A veteran of several presidential campaigns, she has managed statewide operations across the US, from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon. In 2014 she was a candidate for Florida Senate District 22.

McLauchlan was a Fulbright Scholar to Moldova in 2010, and she was awarded a returning Fulbright to Moldova Summer 2012. Her current research examines the impact of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on legal reform in Moldova.  McLauchlan was awarded a Diploma from the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the medal of ULIM in recognition of fruitful international research collaboration.