Faculty

Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan

Frank E. Duckwall Professor of Florida Studies
Associate Professor, Political Science
Founding Director, Center for Civic Engagement
Lead Instructor, 91tvӰԺ St. Petersburg YMCA Civic Fellows Program

Contact

Home Campus: St. Petersburg
Office: PNM101B, the Center for Civic Engagement Suite in the Piano Man Building
on the St. Petersburg campus
Phone: (727) 873-4956
Email

BIO

Dr. Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement at the 91tvӰԺ St. Petersburg, where she teaches courses in American Government and Public Law. McLauchlan is also the Lead Instructor for the 91tvӰԺ YMCA Civic Fellows Program, a statewide civics education initiative. McLauchlan is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in civics education, democratization, and strengthening civil society, the rule of law and justice sector reform. Her perspectives have been featured in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Guardian, the BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and local news outlets throughout Florida.

McLauchlan has received numerous university, national and international teaching and community engagement awards, such as the Political Studies Association-American Political Science Association International Partnership Award (for the development of a meaningful global classroom experience with Moldovan colleagues), the American Political Science Association Craig L. Brians Award for Undergraduate Research and Mentorship, and the American Association of State Colleges and University’s American Democracy Project Barbara Burch Award for Faculty Leadership in Civic Engagement.

McLauchlan was a Fulbright Scholar to Moldova in 2010, 2012, and 2023, and in North Macedonia in 2017 -- all awards focused on Democracy and Civil Society and strengthening Rule of Law. In 2024, McLauchlan was awarded a US State Department CDAF Grant to conduct workshops with students, community partners and government officials in Zimbabwe to develop citizenship education designed to strengthen citizen oversight and government accountability.

McLauchlan was awarded a Diploma from the Government of the Republic of Moldova, recognizing fruitful international cooperation as well as the Medal of the Free University of Moldova.  She also received the Award of the City of Klos, Albania in honor of the promotion of democratic values, community engagement and volunteerism and an Honorary Degree Leadership Excellence Award for "outstanding dedication and commitment to promoting rule of law, democracy building, and civic engagement" from UBT in Pristina, Kosovo. 

Before becoming a university professor and researcher, McLauchlan worked at the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (on the confirmation of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), the U.S. Department of Justice, and the White House (during both terms of the Clinton Administration). A veteran of several presidential campaigns, she has managed statewide operations across the U.S., from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon. (This includes work on the 2000 Recount in Florida and managing the first ever 100% Vote by Mail presidential election in the U.S., as state director for the campaign in Oregon.)

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

I believe strongly in the citizen scholar model and provide experiential learning and civic engagement opportunities for students in each of my courses. Examples include the Supreme Court oral argument simulation in Constitutional Law I, the Senate Judiciary Committee Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing and the Courtroom Observation Research assignment in Law and Politics, and the campaign internships in The Campaign Process, American National Government, and The Road to the White House.

I strive to internationalize the curriculum and to provide opportunities for my students to become “global citizens.” Examples include my projects in Women and the Law in which my students worked together in groups with students at the Moldova State University’s American Studies Center on , Civil Liberties and Civil Rights in which my students working on comparative legal research papers about women’s rights in the Middle East were paired with a woman lawyer from that country (we partnered with the ) who mentored them on their projects, and in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in which my students partnered with a seminar at the Scoala Nationala de Studii Politice si Adminstrative in Bucharest, Romania, working in groups on  in the U.S. and in Europe and my Civil Liberties and Civil Rights class that partnered with South East European University in Skopje, Macedonia, working on groups on research projects comparing and contrasting decisions of the Supreme Court of the U.S. and the European Court of Human Rights on similar legal questions.

COURSES TAUGHT AT 91tvӰԺ ST. PETERSBURG CAMPUS

  • POS 2041 American National Government
  • POS 4614 U.S. Constitutional Law I
  • POS 4624 U.S. Constitutional Law II (Civil Rights and Civil Liberties)
  • POS 3691 Introduction to Law and Politics
  • POS 3273 Practical Politics: The Campaign Process 
  • POS 4693 and WST 4930 Women and the Law I
  • PUP 4323 Women and Politics
  • POS 3182 Florida Politics and Government
  • LDR 3263 Community Leadership Practicum
  • POS 3931 and POS 4941The Road to the White House
  • CPO 4930 and CPO 5934 Comparative Politics: Moldova (Study Abroad Course)

PUBLICATIONS ABOUT TEACHING AND LEARNING

  •  with Elizabeth Bennion.  PSNow, American Political Science Association,  23 March 2020.
  • “” Vol. 8, No. 1 (April 2019)  eJournal of Public Affairs, pp. 32-68.
  • “Civic Engagement Education” with Elizabeth A. Bennion, included in “Teaching and Learning Conference-within-a-Conference Launched at APSA Annual Meeting in Boston,” by Alison Rios Millet McCartney and Renee Van Vechten, PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 52, Issue 1 (January 2019), pp. 157-158.
  • “Cultivating Global Citizenship in Higher Education: Civic Engagement and Service Learning in Joint Study Abroad Courses.” Vol. 4, No. 1 (2015) Revista Internacional de Educacion para la Justicia Social (RIEJS) pp. 111-129.  With Larisa Patlis. 
  • “Learning Citizenship by Doing: Integrating Campaign Internships into Political Science Coursework,” in Teaching Civic Engagement: From Student to Active Citizen.  Alison McCartney, Elizabeth A. Bennion, and Dick Simpson, eds. Washington, DC: American Political Science Association, 2013.
  • “Creating a Global Classroom:  Providing Collaborative Research Opportunities for U.S. and Moldovan Students.” Vol. 19 (November 2012)  Journal for Civic Commitment. With Svetlana Suveica. 
  • “” Vol. 16, Issue 1 (Spring 2012) Political Science Educator. Article is on pp 15-19.
  • “Integrating Civic Engagement into the Higher Education Curriculum in the United States,” in Intercultural Communication in the New Millennium, edited by Elena Crestionicov, American Studies Center, Moldova State University, 2012.
  • “The Courtroom as Classroom: Integrating Civic Engagement in Public Law Courses.” Vol. 17 (October 2011)  Journal for Civic Commitment. 
  • “Learning Citizenship by Doing:  Evaluating the Effects of a Required Political Campaign Internship in American Government”  Issue 12 (January 2009)  Journal for Civic Commitment.
  • “”&Բ;&Բ;The Political Science Educator. Vol. 10, Issue 2 (December 2005).