RSA History
RSA was started by Liviu Mirica (President), Catalin Stoica (Vice-President) and Dan Costinescu (Chief Financial Officer), who administered it in 2001-02. Before that, there were informal gatherings and, between 1992-95, a lively e-mail list (romanians@sep.stanford.edu) started and administered by Mihai Popovici. In 1990-1991 Victor Velculescu founded and ran the SEED (Students for East European Democracy) group, with a focus on Romania.
The list of past and present officers can be found in the About Us section of the website.
Check out below our past events, our photo album, or the alumni list.
Photo Album
Click here to see our photo album.Past Events:
This list includes not only events organized by RSA, but other Romanian-related events happening on Stanford's campus or involving Stanford Romanian students.
March 6, 2010: International Women's Day
Romanians gather with students of other nationalities to celebrate the International Woman's Day and make martisoare!
June 10, 2009: Summer Barbeque
In the height of the summer, the Romanian Students Association gathers for a barbecue at the Graduate Community Center!
Sep. 15, 2005: President of Romania visits Stanford!
His Excellency Traian Basescu, President of Romania, visited the Stanford campus, met the Romanian students and scholars from the area, and held a speech on "Achieving democracy from the Black Sea to the Middle East and beyond", followed by a Q&A session. The visit was hosted by Stanford's Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian studies and by the Hoover Institute. Read Ioana Cozmuta’s article about this event (in Romanian).
Sep. 4, 2005: Romanian rocket scientists visit Stanford!
Five Romanian scholars preparing to build the first Romanian satellites visited for a week Prof. Bob Twiggs in the Aeronautics and Astronautics department. Article in the Stanford Report.Jun. 13, 2005: BBQ and elections!
Alex, Mihaela, Manuel and others got together a barbecue, and Alma Papadopol got elected as RSA president! Congratulations, and thanks to the 2003-04 management team!May 7, 2005: I-Fest
RSA put together a stand with cultural exhibits for the International Festival organized by Stanford's International Center! [ Pictures ]
May 5, 2005: Turkish+Persian+Romanian+Ukrainian Movie Night
Filantropica, Romanian-French comedy by Nae Caranfil.
May 1, 2005: "A Transylvanian in Silicon Valley"
The Billie Achilles fund and Bechtel International Center sponsored a stand-up comedy show by Silvian Centiu in the opening day of the International Week. The event was by all measures a success! At about 80 participants, it was the largest RSA-only event to date. It was also the most advertised, having benefitted both from a Stanford Daily ad and from several tens of large posters displayed in the center of the campus. The people were genuinely entertained, a fact proved by their hearty applause and their remaining after the show for a half-an-hour Q&A session. Everything worked well: the room was filled just right - neither empty, nor choke-full; the food and drinks were good and plentiful; and, as hoped, over half of the attendance was non-Romanian, perfect for an I-Week event with the purpose of getting the name of the country known. Our thanks go especially to Mr. Centiu who performed the show free of charge. [ Pictures ] 
We'll eat. We'll laugh. And at the end we'll chatter
About Romania and all the things that matter
At the I-Center, on a sunny night
When one by one, swept by untold delight,
Shall heed unbridled the vampire's call,
In trance of magic waiting self to fall.
When? Sunday, May The First, at Eight Pee Em.
Bring your friends over: happiness for them
Is all you wish, so don't delay to enter
Assembly Room, of Bechtel's old I-Center.
Apr. 30, 2005: Orthodox Easter Midnight Party
The RSAmembers carpooled to Casa Romana for the Midnight Mass, then returned to campus and after 1 AM started tasting some traditional Romanian Foods - drob, friptura de miel, sarmale, cozonac, oua rosii!
Apr. 21, 2005: Turkish+Persian+Romanian+Ukrainian Movie Night
Head on, by Fatih Akin (Turkey).
Apr. 14, 2005: Persian+Romanian+Ukrainian Movie Night
A Friend of the Deceased, by Vyacheslav Krishtofovich.
Mar. 12, 2005: Clatite cu Toma Caragiu
La Manuel acasa / In noaptea cea mai deasa / Romani au poposit, / Clatite-au ispravit. / Scenete i-au distrat, / Cu Toma (fain barbat). / Mult rom ei au baut / Si cotul i-a durut / De munca si de scoli, / De-a sufletului boli!
Mar. 2, 2005: Romanian Business Network Meeting
Several Romanian students at Stanford went to the Romanian Honorary Consulate in San Francisco to hear real Romanian entrepreneurs such as Marcel Borodi and George Roth talk about the business environment in Romania, and to network with business professionals from the Bay Area.
Mar. 2, 2005: Persian+Romanian+Ukrainian Movie Night
With Fire and Sword, by Jerzy Hoffman, based on a novel by literature Nobel-prize winner Henryk Sienkiewicz.
Feb. 16, 2005: Persian+Romanian+Ukrainian Movie Night
Train de vie, by Radu Mihaileanu (French/Romanian/Israeli/Belgian/Dutch production).
Feb. 2, 2005: Persian+Romanian+Ukrainian Movie Night
To expand our quarterly movie showings, RSA joined forces with the Persian and the Ukrainian student associations in launching a bi-weekly movie series starting this week! This week: Close-up, by Abbas Kiarostami (Iran).
Jan. 28, 2005: East European New Year Party
The Romanian, Ukrainian, Turkish and Estonian student associations celebrated the New Year one more time – at the EV Community Center!
Nov 28 & Dec. 12, 2004: Romanian Elections
RSA provided personnel and web resources for the San Francisco Bay Area elections for the president and parliament of Romania. Voter’s Guide for the presidential runoffs, Bay Area elections results.
Nov. 14, 2004: Romanian Movie Night
Movies: "Operatiunea Monstrul" (1976), with Toma Caragiu, and "Revansa", directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu and starring Sergiu Nicolaescu in the lead role.
Oct. 29, 2004: Lecture on Romanian History
"Fomenting Class Warfare in Transylvania, 1949-1962: Agricultural Collectivization". Speaker: Katherine Verdery, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan
Oct. 23, 2004: Party
Adrian Gradinaru's B-day party, at the new Graduate Community Center, the first RSA event to be held at this newly built location.
Oct. 18, 2004: Crepes and sweet wine
Crepes and sweet wine at Alex's home! We also planned the task distribution for the future events of the year.
Sep. 25, 2004: Summer vacation demise mourning BBQ
Sausages from Dittmer's! All first-time Romanian participants to RSA activities will receive 1 extra sausage. Meeting agenda: 1. subject upon sausage quality, a vote on whether to change the meaning of the RSA acronym to "Romanian Sausage Association"; 2. Surprise elections!
Aug. 7, 2004: Summer Potluck Party
Celebrating both all those born in Leo, and those who just feel like celebrating! [ Pictures ]
Jul. 31, 2004: Movie Evening
Train of Life, by Radu Mihaileanu, followed by Life is Beautiful, by Roberto Benigni.
Jun. 19, 2004: Mici & beer
Eating mici and drinking beer the previous week felt good. So we just did it again [ Pictures ].
Jun. 12, 2004: Mici & beer
To honor the graduation of several members of our community, we ate and we drank our fill at the barbeque place between Studio5 and Studio 6 in the Escondido Village. Soccer was also played for 8 minutes, until one team, beaten thoroughly, decided it needed more beer [ Pictures ].
May 23, 2004: Movie evening
Romanian movie: Occident, by Cristian Mungiu, preceded by the short feature "Miracles in Chernivtsi", by Amelia Glaser
May 3, 2004: participation in RBN meeting
Several Romanian Stanford students participated in a Venture Capital Roundtable at the Hewlett-Packard headquarters in Palo Alto, discussing business-related issues with Mr. Sorin Ducaru, Ambassador of Romania to the U.S., and the distinguished panel of speakers from a host of Silicon Valley companies with interests related to Romania.
Apr. 29, 2004: Visit of Leonard Oprea
The writer Leonard Oprea visited the Main Quad and the Rodin Sculpture Garden and met with a few Romanians from around here.
Apr. 11, 2004: Christian Orthodox Easter
Carpool for the midnight service at the Church of Casa Romana, followed by a party in EV Cottage!
Mar. 6, 2004: Romanian student evening at Casa Romana
Casa Romana brought together the Romanian students from Stanford, Berkeley and other Bay Area universities for an evening of fun and good food! [ Pictures ].
Feb. 28. 2004: Romanian wine and cheese party
Feb. 20, 2004: Graduate Student International Gala
RSA put together a stand with cultural exhibits and fed 300 mici, 150 buns and a gallon of mustard to the always-hungry Stanford graduate students! [ Pictures ]
Jan. 26, 2004: Visit of Vladimir Tismaneanu
Vladimir Tismaneanu, Director of the Center for Study of Post-Communist Societies and Professor of Government at the U. of Maryland, held a conference titled Stalinism for All Seasons? The Life, Death and Afterlife of Romanian Communism on campus at the invitation of CREEES and of Hoover Institution. Several Romanian students were present.
Jan. 25, 2004: Screening of Balanta
Balanta (1992), one of the best-known early '90s Romanian movies, by director Lucian Pintilie, was screened in Willis Lounge (Rains). Balanta was actually the Romanian title; it was translated into English as The Oak.
Jan. 16, 2004: South-East European Party
Organized together with the Turkish and the Ukrainian student groups at the EV Center. [ Pictures ]
Dec. 12, 2003: Romania's Consul General to LA, Claudiu Lucaci, visits the Stanford campus.
Mr. Lucaci met with the Romanian students on campus. It was a good opportunity for Stanford students to give feedback about the activity of the Romanian diplomatic missions in the US and engage in a debate on how Romanian officials could get students more involved in activities geared towards promoting Romania's cultural and economic interests in Silicon Valley.
Nov. 8, 2003 - On-campus party organized by the RSA
Close to the birthdays of two members of the Romanian student community, the party was a good occasion for getting together, chatting, dancing and having an enjoyable evening.
Apr. 27, 2003: Christian Orthodox Easter
Carpool for the midnight service at the Church of Casa Romana, followed by a party in EV Cottage!
Mar. 11, 2002: Sorin Ducaru, Ambassador of Romania in the U.S., visits the Stanford campus
Mr. Ducaru discussed the current state of affairs and the activity of the embassy with Stanford students in the Rodin Sculpture Garden in campus.
Apr. 2002: Romanian Easter Party in campus
After the Orthodox midnight mass at Casa Romana in Hayward, the RSA members came to Stanford to celebrate the ending of the Easter fast with a feast!
Dec. 25, 2001: Orthodox Christmas celebration
Dec. 1, 2001: National Day of Romania party
Oct. 19, 2001: The Royal Family of Romania meets the Romanian Stanford students.
His Majesty King Michael I of Romania , Queen Ana, together with Princess Margaret and Prince Radu, visited Stanford University. After visiting the Hoover Institute, the Royal Family met the Romanian students at Stanford. The meeting was a unique opportunity for young students to ask His Majesty various questions on topics covering history, international relations or politics. It was a special moment for some of us: receiving a lesson on contemporary Romanian history from the only WWII head of state still alive.
Mar. 10, 2001: Taraf de Haidouks at Stanford
The renowned Romanian-Gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks performed for the first time in Memorial Auditorium, and delighted the audience with great traditional music. The concert was followed by an ad-hoc follow-up party and concert in the Stanford Coffee House.
Nov 26 & Dec. 10, 2000: Romanian Elections
RSA provided personnel and resources for the San Francisco Bay Area elections for the president and parliament of Romania. Bay Area elections results (First round).
Nov. 24 2000: Visit of Radu Beligan and Ion Lucian
Radu Beligan, Ion Lucian and other well-known Romanian actors meet the Romanian students at Stanford's Treehouse restaurant
2000: Visit of Ion Caramitru
Ion Caramitru, Minister of Culture and a famous actor, and Valeria Seciu, another well-known Romanian actor, meet the Romanian students at Stanford's Treehouse restaurant.
1999: Visit of Mircea Geoana
Mircea Geoana, at the time the Ambassador of Romania at Washington, meets Stanford's Romanian students and other Romanians at GSB.
1999: Visit of Valeriu Stoica
Valeriu Stoica, at the time the Minister of Justice of Romania, meets the Romanian students at the Coffee House
1998: Visit of Daniel Daianu
Daniel Daianu, formerly a Minister of Finances of Romania, meets with Stanford's romanian students during his several months stay in Berkeley
1998: Visit of Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu, at the time President of Romania, together with other Romanian officials such as Andrei Plesu, Minster of Culture, visits the area and inaugurates Casa Romana in Hayward.
1995-1998: Help building Casa Romana
Romanian Students in Stanford help build Casa Romana in Hayward – especially with landscaping (bringing soil, planting grass, trees, shrubbery).
1995-1998: Coffee House meetings
Mihai Popovici periodically organizes informal meetings of the Romanians at the Coffee House at Tressider Union
1995: Visit of Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu, at the time a presidential candidate, visits the Stanford campus and has dinner with the students at the Su Hong restaurant in Palo Alto.
1992-1993: Free Unix for Romania
The electronic group romanians@sep.stanford.edu helps organize the initiative "Free Unix for Romania", through which Linux was brought to universities in Bucharest and Cluj. The program, initiated and coordinated until 1994 by Marius Hancu from the Montreal Research Center for Computer Science (Canada), used romanians@sep.stanford.edu, together with the Usenet newsgroup soc.culture.romanian, to obtain donations and volunteers. The volunteers have: obtained public domain software, made copies and shipped them to Romania; distributed, installed and tested the software in Romania; helped their Romanian counterparts obtain technical support. Besides money, hardware items such as diskettes, magnetic tapes, CD-ROMs and terminals were donated. The money was mainly used to send Computer Science books to Romanian universities. The Romanian chapter of the Soros Foundation for an Open Society and GURU (Grupul Utilizatorilor Romani de Unix) also brought significant contributions to this initiative.
1991 or 1992: Visit of Emil Constantinescu
Emil Constantinescu, at the time Visiting Professor at Duke University, visits the Stanford campus and has brunch with the students
1990-1991: American Exchange Scholars in Romania
The SEED (Students for East European Democracy) student group makes arrangements so that several American students from Stanford spend summers teaching English at the University of Bucharest
Alumni List:
in alphabetical order of the last name. For postdocs/visiting scientists/faculty/staff who were at Stanford for several years, the year posted is the final year of their stay.
- Christina Adriana Andronache, AB 2000
- Sabina Stefania Alistar, BS & MS 2005
- Sorin Antohi, visiting scholar 2000
- Nicoleta Baboi, postdoc 2004
- Bogdan Andrei Bernevig, BS&MS 2001
- Liliana Borcea, PhD 1996
- Tudor Andrei Bosman, MS 2004
- Diana Budur, BA 2004
- Gheorghe Radu Chromely, MS 1997
- George Serban Constantinescu, postdoc 2001
- Catalin Cosovanu, MA 1998, JSM 2001
- Dan Costinescu, MS 2002, MS 2005
- Mihail Covaci, AB 1998
- Ioana Cozmuta, postdoc 2003
- Ruxandra Mihaela Dorobantu, AB 2000
- Teodora Dumitrescu, Research Assistant 2004
- Andrew Dumitrescu-Solomon, BS 2004
- Nicolae Garleanu, PhD 2002
- Andrei Ghetie, BA 1994
- Brenda Golianu, MD 1991, CRT Resident 1992
- Stefan Adrian Gradinaru, MS 2003
- Mihai Grecu, BS 2003
- Dorina Gutu, visiting scholar 2004
- Tudor Ioan Har, MS 2001
- Serban Alexandru Hartular, BA 2001
- Tudor Calin Dan Havriliuc, AB 1998
- Cristina Ana-Maria Hristea, Ph.D. 2002
- Ovidiu Hurduzeu, PhD 1997
- Andrei Mandel Manoliu, JD 1982
- Liviu Mirica, Ph.D. 2005
- Dan Alin Muresan, MS 2002
- Anca Veronica Neacsu, BS 2001
- Ion Elinor Opris, MS 1991, PhD 1996
- Dorin Dumitru Parasca, AB 1995
- David Patariu, MS 2005
- Dumitru Cristian Pavelescu, MS 1992
- Cezar Petriuc, BS 2002, MS 2003
- Andrei O. Pop, BA 2003
- Eric Pop, PhD 2005
- Razvan Alexandru Popa, BA&MS 2002
- Bogdan Eugen Popescu, PhD 2004
- Andrei Popovici, BS 1995
- Mihai Popovici, MS 1990, PhD 1995
- Alexandru Protopopescu, BS 1999
- Mihai Catalin Rauta, MBA 2004
- Viviana Ioana Risca, BS 2004
- Dumitru Roman, visiting scholar 2005
- Diana Cornelia Sava, MS 2001, PhD 2004
- Paul Constantin Sava, MS 1998, PhD 2005
- Silviu Savin, MS 1997
- Ana-Catrina Savulescu (married Buchser), BA 2000
- Mihai Iuliu Spariosu, PhD 1976
- Andrei Stamatian, BA 2000
- Alexandru Stanculescu, MS 1982, PhD 1986
- Miruna Stanica, MA 2004
- Andrei Stoica, BS 1994, MS 1997
- Augustin N. Stoica, AM 1998, PhD 2005
- Zoltan Sylvester, PhD 2001
- Gabriela Cristina A Teodorescu (married Bockhaus), AB 1996
- Monica Tudor, MS 1996
- Victor Velculescu, BS 1992
- Ioan Vlad, MS 2002
- Cristian Voicu, MS 2002
- Gabriel Zeltzer, MS 2002
- Roxana Flavia Pop (married Dam), PhD 2008