Through the last week of March, Gonzaga University hosted Mihai Murariu, a professor from the West University of Timisoara in Romania, to discuss the future of government with leadership studies students.
Murariu is the second visiting scholar that GU has had from Romania since 2024 as a result of the university’s partnership with Erasmus+, a European exchange program. Although Murariu did not travel internationally much in the past, he said that signing up for a GU exchange has helped him be a more adventurous traveler, make new connections and exploring new perspectives.
“The sheer warmth and generosity of the people I’ve met and their dedication to scholarship and understanding the world has been very inspiring to see,” Murariu said.
As a university student himself, Murariu studied international relations, European studies, modern languages, political science and history. He said that this wide exposure led him to find that each subject is interconnected, and many of these connections are caused by social and political revolutions.
Beyond his position as a lecturer at the Romanian university, Murariu has dedicated much of his career to researching extremism and political modernity.
“Radical movements play an under-reported role in the development of human society,” Murariu said. “We have these groups which try to revolutionize it, for better or for worse, and society is forced to react.”
While at GU, Murariu met with members of the Comprehensive Leadership Program, as well as political science and international studies majors, to discuss these ideas. Through a host of lectures, workshops and meetings, Murariu worked with students to consider the impact of extremism on society and the political reality moving forward.
“I really enjoy talking to Erasmus students and learning from their perspectives,” Murariu said. “You meet so many new colleagues and find ways to think of things in manners in which otherwise you would maybe never have visited.”
Adrian Popa, the interim dean of GU’s School of Leadership Studies, was born and raised in Romania and is responsible for establishing GU’s partnership with Murariu’s university.
“Bringing someone from outside introduces more neutral engagement, a way for us to come outside of ourselves and see the world through their perspective,” Popa said.
Prior to Murariu’s arrival, Silviu Rogobete was the first Romanian professor to visit GU. Rogobete is the director of the Doctoral School of Philosophy, Sociology and Political Science at the West University of Timisoara, the same university where Murariu teaches. Rogobete is also one of Popa’s childhood friends. After seeing the initial impact of the visit, Popa and Rogobete were inspired to establish an official exchange partnership through Erasmus+ so that students could continue to collaborate internationally between Spokane and Timisoara.
Erasmus+ connects universities so that they can exchange study abroad opportunities, and so far, GU has sent two faculty members and is expecting the first student visitor from Romania this fall. Chrystin McLelland, a doctoral student, is the second GU student to travel to Romania and is nearing the end of her five-month study abroad trip.
Popa said that this partnership with Murariu’s university provides outside perspectives of life, world views, ideology and the United States itself.
“I think it’s crucial for us to be mindful of what a gift it is when an international speaker comes to campus,” Popa said.
During Murariu’s time in Spokane, he also met with GU’s leadership studies faculty to discuss ways to further strengthen the collaboration between the two universities in order to sustain and expand the Erasmus+ program. Popa said his visit will be one of many going forward, as will the continued GU student exchanges to Timisoara.
“We live in a world where it has become easier and easier to isolate yourself,” Murariu said. “These programs are essential to strengthening what should be considered a natural attitude toward humanity, one of continued contact and conversation.”
Hanna Layton is a staff writer.