First Class!

I had several meetings on Monday afternoon to finalize my course meeting times and locations.

I will be teaching US Constitutional Law on Tuesdays and Intro to Judicial Process in the U.S. on Thursdays, under the auspices of the Law faculty

I will also create a short course/lecture series about campaigns and elections in the U.S. with the Political Science faculty. We will organize this for mid-to-late October, in advance of the U.S. 2010 mid-term elections (and parliamentary elections in Moldova, which will likely be scheduled for late November). We may even create a certificate for students who complete the workshop series.

I met with my Constitutional Law students yesterday. They are terrific! These are second-year law students who have already completed a course on Moldovan Constitutional Law. The students were very engaged. And they asked great questions. I am so happy that my classes are underway. And I am especially pleased with the caliber of my students.

I can tell that the exchanges that we will have throughout the semester, comparing and contrasting the Moldovan and US Constitutions, will enrich our understanding of our home country's Constitution as well as to help us learn about the other's. When teaching U.S. students about the U.S. Constitution there is a lot that is taken for granted. Now, nothing is taken for granted; everything is open to question and further examination and further explanation. I anticipate that we will have deeper and meatier discussions, because I will not gloss over things that I expect students to know already.

We originally planned that I would teach both courses in Aula Magnifica (where I delivered the public lecture last week), but, due to an event, we were moved at the last minute to Aula Azerbaijan. This is an excellent classroom, and I hope we can meet there for the rest of the semester. And we moved Judicial Process to Aula Georgia. Both of these classrooms are on the 3rd floor.

Several of the classrooms at ULIM are country rooms that are filled with maps and artifacts from that country. The Rector is keen on students at ULIM developing a global perspective, and learning about countries all over the globe is a part of that. I am wondering how many of my students back home could find Azerbaijan on a map? I am hoping all of my Con Law students this semester could -- since it was right behind me on the wall during my 3-hour lecture!

I should have taken photos of Aula Azerbaijan. I will next week, and will, of course, post photos!

Fortunately, all the students were rounded up and delivered to the new location in a timely manner. There were a few minutes when I was standing alone in an empty classroom, wondering how many, if any, students registered for the class and how many, if any, would know of/find their way to the new location. In the end, I could not have been more pleased with my first class.

Tomorrow is my first Judicial Process lecture. Those students will be primarily first-year law students. More about tomorrow's class (and photos of Aula Georgia) to come