Political Science News

Betty Glad, Professor Emerita, Dies at 80

The Department of Political Science is saddened to announce that it has received word of the death of political scientist and University of Illinois Professor Emerita Betty Glad, at the age of 80, on August 2 in Columbia, South Carolina.

From the notice sent to the department by Dan Sabia, chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of South Carolina, where Professor Glad held an appointment from 1990 until her retirement:

"When she retired in the Spring of 2008, Betty held the Olin B. Johnston Professor of Political Science Distinguished Chair because she enjoyed a truly distinguished career. She received her doctorate from the U of Chicago in 1962, taught for many years at the University of Illinois (where she served as the first woman chair of its political science department), and joined us in 1989. She was an exemplary scholar, an expert on the American Presidency, US foreign policy, and political psychology, and the author of numerous articles and book chapters and several books (the most recent, published late in 2009, on foreign policy making in the Carter Administration). She was as well a dedicated teacher and exemplary mentor to untold numbers of graduate students whose careers were made so much better by her care and guidance.

"She was a pioneer and role model for women throughout the Political Science profession, one of the first women to challenge prevailing conventions and gender discrimination in the discipline, and one of the first to attain national and international stature. As a result, she won many awards for both scholarship and leadership throughout her long career, including the Frank D. Goodnow Award of the American Political Science Association for a lifetime of contributions and service to the discipline, and the Harold Lasswell Award of the International Society for Political Psychology for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to political psychology. She served as President of the International Society for Political Psychology, President of the Presidency Research Section of the American Political Science Association, and Vice-President of the American Political Science Association.

"Among the many virtues contributing to Betty's success were courage, strength and tenaciousness. In the past decade or more, she struggled without complaint against many physical challenges. That struggle persisted in retirement, always with incredible grace and dignity, and last night ended when she accepted the calm.

"Betty will be buried next to her mother in Utah. A memorial service will be held in Columbia."

 

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