In Memoriam

tions but also for the very nature of
American society." Obviously, he
supplemented his fine research skills
with an effective crystal ball.

Bill was also a devoted teacher.
He regularly taught courses on the
presidency, comparative executive
behavior, federalism, state politics,
policy analysis, politics and aging,
and politics and health policy. He
taught both undergraduate and grad-
uate students, and he spent a great
deal of time outside the classroom
guiding his students. He probably
supervised more dissertations in the
American field than anyone else on
the faculty. Bill served for a number
of years on the selection committee
for state legislative internships. He
helped many students, not only at
USC, to serve as interns in Sacra-
mento, California.

In latter years, Bill also encour-
aged junior faculty. He was quick to
agree to serve on faculty review
committees, and he helped a number
of younger faculty to achieve promo-
tion and tenure.

While Bill's research often cen-
tered on important government pol-
icy and the politically powerful, he
was also concerned about the plight
of average Americans. He once said
in an interview with the media that
"All of us should remind ourselves
of the importance of ordinary acts of
kindliness, like offering to drive an
elderly neighbor to a physician or
just calling up your 80 year-old
grandmother to ask how she's doing.
To individually reach out and touch
someone among the elderly—by
telephone or otherwise—is really as
consequential in its own way as any
type of collective reform."

In short, Bill was an outstanding
scholar and teacher. His research on
the presidency, in particular, has
shed important light on that critical
office. He was an exemplary col-
league and the moral backbone of
our department. His presence, wis-
dom, and good humor will be sorely
missed.

Bill is survived by his wife, Mary,
and daughters Linda and Caroline
Lammers.

Sheldon Kamieniecki
University of Southern California

Marcella A. MacDonald
Marcella A. MacDonald, 57, assis-

tant professor of political science at
SUNY-Brockport, died at her Brock-
port home in November 1997. Mac-
Donald had taught at Brockport
since 1968, specializing in political
theory and women's studies. She was
active in faculty governance, includ-
ing service as chair of her depart-
ment's governance committee, as a
Faculty Senator, as a representative
to the faculty union, and as a mem-
ber of the Women's Studies Board.
She was born in Timmins, Ont., and
had degrees from the University of
Brunswick (B. A.), the University of
Melbourne (M.A.), and Yale Uni-
versity (Ph.D.). Dr. MacDonald was
a bright, witty, compassionate
teacher, colleague, and friend. She
scorned the traditional formalities of
faculty-student relations and culti-
vated long-standing friendships with
many of her students.

William G. Andrews
SUNY-Brockport

Robert Dale Miewald
Robert D. Miewald, professor of

political science at the University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, died October 18,
1997. Bob was born in Chinook,
Montana, May 16, 1938. As a boy,
he came to know ranching and farm-
ing on the Montana plains. After
selling the ranch, the family moved
to Enterprise, Oregon, where his
father was employed by the Forest
Service. Bob graduated from Enter-
prise High School in 1956 and from
the University of Oregon in 1960.
From 1961 to 1963, he served in the
U.S. Army. Following military ser-
vice, he completed his doctorate in
political science at the University of
Colorado.

Bob began his professional career
at California State University, Long
Beach, where he was an assistant
professor and coordinator of the
graduate program in public adminis-
tration. In 1971, he joined the fac-
ulty of the University of Nebraska,
Lincoln as an associate professor.
He was promoted to full professor in
1978. At Nebraska, Bob served as
chair of the department from 1974
to 1977 and 1988-1990. From 1978,

he served as the director of the
graduate specialization in policy
analysis and program evaluation.

Bob was a master teacher, an en-
gaging and thoughtful writer, an un-
selfish colleague, dear friend, and
mentor. A quite and reserved man
in most social settings, in the class-
room he was a performer. Whether
teaching a class of several hundred
or a seminar of less than ten,
whether first year or graduate stu-
dents, Bob made the often dry sub-
ject matter of public administration
come to life. Courses in personnel
administration, budgeting, and man-
agement are not the stuff that typi-
cally turns students on, but Bob was
able to do so. His classes were al-
ways full and the students always left
with a smile. His style and approach
are reflected in his book, Public Ad-
ministration: A Critical Perspective.
He opens with a quote from Ralph
Waldo Emerson, "There are some
subjects which have kind of a right
to dull treatment. Public administra-
tion has always been one of those
subjects." With criticism and humor,
he could turn the dull into the de-
lightful.

Bob also reached students because
he had something to say. He would
walk them through the world of ad-
ministration but the journey would
not stop with the mechanical and
superficial. He dealt with issues at
the core. To him, administration and
organization were important because
they were a way to get things done,
but he always cautioned his students
to be aware of the dehumanizing
potential that lay in the bowels of
many an organization. First and
foremost, he would remind them,
stay committed to your fellow per-
son. Bob would often drive home
the point, "being in charge is never
an excuse for being a bastard."
Many a student left his classroom
with a greater understanding of ad-
ministration. More importantly,
many left with a greater understand-
ing of the human condition.

In spite of his success as a
teacher, Bob would not allow him-
self to be nominated for a teaching
award. No one knows why; Bob
didn't share such things. We suspect
that for him, turning students on was
simply the job and didn't deserve
special recognition.

86 PS: Political Science & Politics



In Memoriam

In addition to his textbook in pub-
lic administration, Bob authored two
other books: The Bureaucratic State:
An Annotated Bibliography, and, with
Peter Longo, The Nebraska Constitu-
tion: A Reference Guide. He edited
and coedited three others. The range
and depth of Bob's intellect, his skill
in fashioning an argument, his ability
to turn a phrase, and his motivation
to link public administration to core
values are reflected in his essay "On
Teaching Public Personnel Adminis-
tration: A Weberian Perspective."

In it, he calls upon political sci-
ence to make its courses more rele-
vant to students and asks what could
be more relevant than public person-
nel administration in as much as
most, if not, all of our students will
wind up as personnel somewhere.
Yet, he points out, one is hard
pressed to find in introductory texts
more than a discussion of technique
when it comes to personnel adminis-
tration. But, he asks, will the drive
for improved and better technique
and their contribution to rational
human control engage students. Not
likely. He calls for a fresh perspec-
tive moving beyond technique. He
suggests one provided by Weber.
Weber's lesson for the teacher of
public personnel administration is to
remind students that, no matter how
imposing a particular technique may
be, he/she has the right to ask
"What is this all about?" "In the
bluntest terms, if one, in the course
of his/her organizational life, runs
across a practice which appears to
be a rotten trick, then it might very
well be just that." Ultimately, the
issue is one of meaning. Public per-
sonnel administration can help stu-
dents grapple with the problem of
meaning, in a context where they are
likely to find themselves.

Bob involved himself in commu-
nity affairs, chairing the Charter Re-
vision Commission for the City of
Lincoln and serving as a consultant
to the State Constitutional Revision
Commission for the State of Ne-
braska. Bob also did more than his
share of university and department
related service. Bob always seemed
available for many of the jobs no
one else wanted. He served as liai-
son to the library ensuring that the
books and journals faculty wanted
were purchased by the library, super-

vised student interns, chaired the
promotion and tenure committee,
and yes, did grade appeals. We knew
he did a lot. Just how much, we are
still finding out.

Bob, as we used to joke with him,
could have been a contender, a
dean, provost, perhaps a president of
a college or university. But what he
wanted was to teach and do it well.
He did. He will be missed by his stu-
dents and colleagues.

Bob is survived by his lovely wife
Erika, daughter Christiana, and son
Tom.

John Comer
University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Peter Longo
University of Nebraska, Kearney

Edward S. T. Su
Edward S. T. Su died November

10, 1997, after an extended illness.
He was 76 years old. Dr. Su taught
political science at Texas A&I Uni-
versity (now Texas A&M University-
Kingsville) from 1967 until he re-
tired as a full professor, in 1989.

Su was born in Anhui, China
(mainland). He received a law de-
gree from National Anhwei Univer-
sity in China in 1944. He later emi-
grated from China and became a
naturalized United States citizen. He
earned a bachelor's degree in politi-
cal science and criminology from
Fresno State College between 1948
and 1950. From 1950-55, he at-
tended the University of Illinois,
Champaign-Urbana, where he
earned two masters degrees (politi-
cal science and library science), and
began work toward the Ph. D. Su
resumed work on the doctorate at
Fordham University, in 1958, and
was awarded the degree from
Fordham, in 1962. His doctorate was
in political science with a specializa-
tion in international relations.

Dr. Su served from 1944-1947 as
an instructor: first, at the Central
Police University in Nanking, China,
and then at National Anhwei Uni-
versity. In the U.S., he held positions
at Pennsylvania State University
(cataloger, 1955-57), Rocky Moun-
tain College (assistant professor, po-
litical science, 1962-64), Dickinson
[North Dakota] State College, 1965-

66, Lake Superior State College (po-
litical science professor and library
director, 1966-67), and at Texas
A&I, 1967-89.

At Texas A&I, Su taught United
States and Texas government as well
as international politics, interna-
tional law and organizations, politics
of China, politics of the Soviet
Union, and the politics of Southeast
Asia. His publications, mostly in the
1960s, dealt with various aspects of
Sino-Soviet Relations. Dr. Su be-
longed to several professional orga-
nizations. Besides the American Po-
litical Science Association, he held
memberships in the American Acad-
emy of Political and Social Science,
the International Political Science
Association, the International Stud-
ies Association, and the Association
of Asian Studies. Su was listed in a
variety of Who's Who publications in
the 1970s.

Although Dr. Su's personal experi-
ence included expropriation of the
family business by the Communist
government, his perspective on the
accomplishments and limitations of
the Communist regime was always
judicious and well balanced. Su trav-
eled extensively in China once this
was allowed. After retirement, he
worked on a book on contemporary
China, but competing demands and
ill health prevented him from finish-
ing it. He had considerable insight
concerning how China could blend a
healthy degree of modernization and
democratization with retention of
important elements of traditional
Chinese culture and customs.

Dr. Su was a dedicated teacher
who encouraged students to take
their concerns about international
issues beyond the classroom. From
1967 until the mid-1980s, he spon-
sored a student organization, the
International Relations Club. The
club, which sometimes had eighty or
more members, sponsored informa-
tional forums on a variety of interna-
tional topics, often addressing the
immediate concerns of international
students at the university. Su was a
serious and capable scholar, a model
of collegiality and dedication in the
political science department, and a
valued member of the university
community.

Dr. Su's given name, Guang Ping,
means "try to help the poor people."

March 1998 87