Biography

McLaughlin has taught the MPP capstone course, Policy Analysis Project, and The Policy Making Process. He also connects students to job and internship opportunities. He joined Temple in 2004, after a long and varied career in public service and policy advocacy in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Washington DC. As director of Temple’s Institute for Public Affairs and of its bipartisan Center on Regional Politics, McLaughlin provided policy makers in the public, private and non-profit sectors with applied research and student interns. His work also included organizing public forums and off-the-record convenings to help leaders achieve consensus on difficult policy challenges. McLaughlin served as associate vice dean for the College of Liberal Arts and taught American politics and public policy in the political science department until 2020. Before joining Temple, McLaughlin served as senior advisor to Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell (2003-04), Philadelphia Mayor William J. Green III (1982-84), the bipartisan National Governors Association (1978-82), and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1974-77). From 1984-2002, he was a lobbyist representing the City of Philadelphia under four mayors, SEPTA, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, and many other public and private sector organizations. As a reporter for the Chicago Tribune (1968-71), he covered state and local politics and government in Illinois. A 1965 graduate of Middlebury College and a US Army veteran, McLaughlin obtained his master’s (1992) and doctoral (1999) degrees in political science from Temple.