27/06/2014

New ECSA presidents in Canada, Lithuania, Finland and Italy

ECSA (European Community Studies Association) has four new elected presidents in Canada, Lithuania, Italy and Finland.

The new Canadian president is Jean
Monnet Chair Joan DeBardeleben, from Carleton University. In Lithuania, the new
head of ECSA is Indre Isokaite, coming from Vilnius University; and finally, the
actual president of the Finnish European Studies Association, who comes from
Helsinky University, is named Juhana Aunesluoma. In Italy, Marco Mascia follows
Daniela Preda, whereas in Norway Jon Erik Fossum was reelected

Firstly, the new president of
Canada is now Jean Monnet Chair Joan DeBardeleben, chancellor’s
professor in the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at Carleton
University in Ottawa. She replaces Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, who was president until May
2012. She is founder and director of Carleton
University's EU Centre of Excellence, the Centre for European Studies; and she
is also director of the Canada-Europe Transatlantic Dialogue, which is a major
Canada-Europe research network funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada.

DeBardeleben has written extensively on Russian politics, the EU's
relations with its Eastern neighbours (including Russia), and topics related to
citizen participation and public opinion in both Russia and Eastern Europe.

Moreover, in
Lithuania, Indre Isokaite has taken
over the position of the Head of ECSA from the last summer as Skirgailé
Zalimiene handed her resignation due to her election as a judge. He’s also
lecturing at Vilnius University and holds a PhD degree in social sciencesDuring the last half-year, Isokaite
mainly accomplished the legal formalities as for example related to the necessary amendments to the Articles of
Association of ECSA Lithuania due to the respective changes in Lithuanian
laws.

The professor of Political History at the University of Helsinki, Juhana
Aunesluoma, has been elected president of The Finnish European Studies
Association (FESA), so that replaces the previous president Pia Letto-Vanamo,
who continues in the board of FESA. Aunesluoma’s areas of
specialization include Cold War history, international trade and integration
policy and Finnish, Nordic and European 20th century history.

Finally, in Italy, the lawyer Marco Mascia has been elected
as new president on the occasion of the 16th edition of the Summer School of
AUSE. He succeeds Daniela Preda, an historian from the University in Genova.
Mascia is the director of the Human Rights Centre of the University of Padua
and professor of International Relations. He is also the author of numerous
publications on the topic of European integration.

Besides these
changes, in July, the Norwegian Association confirmed John Erik Fossum, from
the ARENA team at the Oslo University, as president, together with the other
Board members.