As part of the Kosove endowment, Harri and Ruth designated funds to create a professorship to recognize USF professors whose careers have brought them national distinction in teaching and service.
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In 2010, the Kosove society and the Kosove alumni began the initial stages of bringing this professorship to fruition. The alumni board spent many months drafting the award criteria and an application. Furthermore, the board decided to create two awards; one to recognize undergraduate teaching and one to recognize graduate teaching. Next, the board needed to find a permanent home for the two awards, a USF governing body who was capable of soliciting applications, screening nominees, and ultimately nominating a recipient to be approved by the USF Provost’s office on a permanent basis. A Kosove alumnus and board member, Heather Agazzi, serves as a USF Faculty Senator representing the College of Medicine. She introduced the idea of the Kosove Professorship to the Faculty Senate, Senate Executive Committee as a potential award for their Honors and Awards Council (HAC) to administer. In the spring of 2012, the HAC unanimously approved to award the Kosove Professorship alongside other prestigious professorships administered through this governing body. The HAC worked collaboratively with the Kosove Society to finalize the award criteria and application, and in May 2013 the first two professorships were named.
2024 Outstanding Professorship Awards
Dr. JUDITHANNE MCLAUCHLAN
Kosove Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Service Award
College of Arts and Sciences
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Dr. McLauchlan is the Frank E. Duckwall Professor of Florida Studies, Associate Professor of Political Science, and Founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement on the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus. She has been teaching courses in Public Law and American Politics at USF for more than 20 years. Dr. McLauchlan is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in civics education, civil society, the rule of law, and judicial sector reform.
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It is difficult to overstate the impact that Dr. McLauchlan’s commitment to teaching and service has had on USF and the broader community. As founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement on the St. Petersburg campus, she coordinates numerous campus civic engagement and voter engagement initiatives. Her hard work at the Center led to USF St. Petersburg receiving a Carnegie Community Engagement Classification in 2010, and she successfully led the effort to renew this classification in 2020. She also develops unique courses that directly promote leadership and civic responsibility among students. One of the most striking is her course about presidential campaigns, “The Road to the White House,” in which she travels with students to early primary states where the students intern for Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns.
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Dr. McLauchlan is also a leader in civics education across the State of Florida. She worked tirelessly to create a novel statewide civic education program, the USF St. Petersburg YMCA Civic Fellows Program. Dr. McLauchlan designed the curriculum and has worked as lead instructor for students from around the state who participate in a week-long Summer Civics Institutes at USF. This unique campus-community engagement project obtained national recognition by the American Political Science Association as an Outstanding Civic Engagement Project.
Beyond the classroom, Dr. McLauchlan’s unique organizational talent and dedication to experiential learning has allowed her to serve as a unique resource for students. As a faculty member, Dr. McLauchlan has placed and supervised hundreds of students in internships with government agencies, political campaigns and NGOs throughout Tampa Bay, as well as in Washington, D.C. and U.S. Embassies overseas.
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Dr. McLauchlan received Fulbright Scholar Awards to Moldova (2010, 2012, 2023) and North Macedonia (2017) and in those settings she developed unique learning opportunities for students and gained recognition from both local and American institutions for her efforts.
Dr. McLauchlan is a superb candidate for the Kosove Society’s Undergraduate Teaching and Service Award. Her passion, commitment, and energy are truly exceptional and always dedicated to student success, locally and globally.