the staff of the UBB's "The European Idea" Foundation for European Studies as its first manager (1997–1999). He has been the recipient of TEMPUS grants from the University of Sussex, Utrecht University, the University of Münster, the University of Milan, and the INALCO, as well as receiving grants from the Central European University, Michigan State University and a DAAD grant from the University of Münster. He is a coordinator of the Other Europes series for the Foundation's publishing house, EFES, and, between 2001–2005, he headed another publishing house, founded by the Desire Foundation. He also coordinates the Limb series for the Limes Publishing House. Pecican was also head of the Post-Totalitarian Studies, an office he shared with Emil Boc (who was a lecturer at the time). He has edited Romanian-language versions of, among others, works by Geoffroy de Villehardouin (De la Conquête de Constantinople), Robert de Clari (La Conquête de Constantinople), Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu (Olteneștile), and Yves Ternon (L'État criminel). Sigma textbook In late 1999, when the Ministry of Education, led by Andrei Marga at the time, decided to allow new textbooks to be published as alternatives to the official ones in use, Pecican, together with Sorin Mitu, Lucia Copoeru, Virgiliu Țârău, and Liviu Țîrău, published a version of a 12th grade manual of Romanian history with Editura Sigma. The volume was submitted to Ministry approval, and caused a political scandal after its content became known to the public — its critics argued that it lacked structure and balance, that it discarded traditional historiography in themes and discourse, and even that part of the information was purely trivial. Pecican identified most of these concerns with support for nationalist tenets, and argued they were unscientific. The volume was immediately faced with criticism from the ultra-nationalist opposition group Greater Romania Party, through the voice of Anghel Stanciu (who called the textbook "anti-national"). Soon after, Romania's largest opposition group at the time, the Social Democratic Party, joined in the protest, and Parliamentary groups from outside the governing Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR) issued a formal protest: their motion was rejected on November 15, but the scandal, deepened by major coverage in the press, probably contributed to weakening support for the CDR. Academia was divided over the issue: while the Romanian Academy expressed concern that the Sigma textbook was not up to educational standards, several, especially young, historians supported it. The National Liberal politician and