After seven years of teaching USF St. Petersburg students to serve as citizen scholars, Dr. Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan, 45, stepped into politics as a candidate for state senate.
“When I see what’s happening in our state government and federal government, I felt like now was the time for me to get involved in this campaign,” Scourfield McLauchlan said.
A political science professor, Scourfield McLauchlan entered the race for District 22 of the Florida Legislature. If elected, she will represent a sector of Tampa Bay, including Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
Her focus is improving education.
“We’ve suffered a lot through the last several years with significant budget cuts. Now is really the time we need to be investing in education,” Scourfield McLauchlan said.
The senate hopeful sits on her daughter’s Parent Teacher Association at Madeira Beach Elementary. Budget cuts tore at the school’s ability to fund necessary programs. With PTA, she was able to fund more than $100,000 to continue school programs and provide supplies.
“I can see first hand how the budget cuts have affected the services that are provided at her school,” Scourfield McLauchlan said. The school board wants to shift education funding back to its prime in 2007, but she feels this is not feasible yet. “Right now, state is down more than $600 per student. We’re hoping to go back to 2007, yet it’s 2013.”
The Florida Legislature impacts state universities, including USF. Scourfield McLauchlan recognizes how this affects students at USFSP.
“Our administration has done a great job of minimizing the effects of those cuts on our students and our ability to teach good course. But, nevertheless, the effects have been profound,” she said. “Recently, the state has proposed changes to our general education curriculum for credit hours, courses students should be taking. State legislators have a very direct effect on what we do at USFSP on an everyday basis.”
Scourfield McLauchlan hopes to increase global citizenship in university students. She connected USFSP to the Eastern European nation of Moldova. Taking an opportunity to teach American and Moldovan students about politics, she led a trip to Moldova during spring break in 2013 to explore the culture and politics of the fledgling nation.
“I think that it’s important to recognize that we are a part of a global society,” Scourfield McLauchlan said. “The study abroad class is one way in which I’ve tried to enhance my students’ understanding of what it means to be a global citizen.”
Sen. Jeff Brandes, who currently represents District 22, comes across as “ideologically extreme” to Scourfield McLauchlan, and doesn’t provide “long-term solutions.”
“We need someone to represent us in Tallahassee that is working hard and is bringing common sense solutions,” Scourfield McLauchlan said. “I think it would be helpful for someone to be in Tallahassee that knows what it’s like to be a college professor and works with our students directly.”
Despite press coverage of her decision to run, Scourfield McLauchlan has tried to keep the word about her candidacy from spreading among her current political science students. She prefers to keep her experiences in campaigns and politics to bipartisan and informative for her students.
“My passion has been to get students involved regardless of their party,” Scourfield McLauchlan said.
“Personally, I really enjoy her classes,” said Gabrielle Mitchell, a junior in political science. “You can tell she truly loves the subject and has an enthusiasm for it that you can’t help but have rub off on you at times.”
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