Dr. Bruce M. Unger, professor of political science at Randolph-Macon College, died of cancer at his home January 31, 2008. A native of Brooklyn, and life-long Brooklyn Dodgers fan, Bruce received his BA at Queens College in 1964, MA at Tulane University in 1967, and Ph.D. at Tulane in 1973. He joined the faculty at Randolph-Macon in 1968, and served 39 years on the faculty. He was Charles J. Potts Professor of Social Sciences when he retired in 2007.
I could never imagine Bruce retiring. He was so energized by the classroom, and he dedicated his considerable enthusiasm to re-crafting his lectures to reach new generations of students. He loved teaching! As one alumnus wrote in remembrance, “It is rewarding to see someone come in day in and day out for nearly 40 years and still see the passion for teaching in their eyes.” So I was surprised when Bruce told me he would retire after his fortieth year at R-MC, but his illness forced him to leave the classroom a year earlier than he had planned.
As a political scientist, Bruce was first and foremost a highly skilled teacher and mentor to his students. He taught courses in international relations, political theory, American politics, research methods, and environmental policy. His students remember him for holding them to the highest academic and ethical standards, as well as for his humor and ability to engage them in his passion for his discipline. A former student, now a well-known political scientist, recalls that Bruce told him, “‘You may not know it yet, but you're going to be a political science professor.’ He took me under his wing, practically forcing me to take a tutorial with him that I hadn't asked for.” An alumna wrote, “His inspiration led me to pursue a career in public service—nearly 30 years on Capitol Hill.” Many alumni note how they became friends with Bruce after graduation and maintained ties to the college through him. If they were in public service, they also became providers of documents and reports that Bruce assiduously collected and distributed to students and colleagues.
Another alumnus recalls Bruce's “endearing earnestness.” His integrity was of the highest order, but always leavened by his love of laughter and a good story, and he knew many of these. One former student called him “fair, funny, human, and, at times, fatherly.” Another wrote, “I never worried about fairness—it defined him. No where else did I get as much academic sense of achievement. Not only one of the smartest men I was educated by, he was generous with his time, immeasurably dedicated. His imprint of strong ethics carries me today, and survives his passing.”
Bruce was a truly kind and gentle person, but his high standards, presented in class with a New Yorker's directness and strong Brooklyn accent, tended to intimidate students. He was, as one alumnus recalled, “demanding in the best sense of the word. He expected you to be prepared, rewarded your good performances, and held you accountable for anything less.” But it did not take long for students to embrace him. I am particularly amused by one alumna's favorite memory of Dr. Unger as “the hot dog stand umbrella (‘Hebrew National: We Answer to a Higher Authority’) he kept in his office. Somehow it always seemed to make me feel welcome.”
Bruce oversaw the college's internship programs at the United Nations and in Washington. He always made sure the internship site provided serious learning opportunities for students, and impressed students and supervisors alike with his site visits that included lunch at Bruce's favorite restaurants.
Bruce won the college's Thomas Branch Teaching Award six times, which may be the campus record. He also won the General Board of Higher Education & Ministry of the United Methodist Church's Award for Exemplary Teaching at a United Methodist-Related Institution of Higher Education in 1999, and the Virginia State Council of Higher Education's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1988. In 1987, he was silver medalist in the Council for Advancement and Support of Higher Education Professor of the Year Award Program.
Bruce's research focused on nuclear disarmament, and for many years he served as Disarmament and Arms Control Advisor to the United Nations Office of the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church. Bruce's influence as a political scientist was most felt inside the United Nations, as he produced internal analyses for the UMC regarding the First (1978) and Second (1982) Special Sessions of the United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (1992), and the Non-Proliferation Treaty Extension Conference (1995). He also conducted research for the Institute for Defense Analysis during the Geneva Conference on Disarmament Chemical Weapons (1990–91).
The college awarded its Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Professor Award to Bruce in 1980, after his having served just 12 years on the faculty. Bruce would contribute much, much more to Randolph-Macon over the 27 years to follow! He was a founder of the new international studies and international relations majors in 1992, and served for 10 years as director of the International Relations Program. He chaired the department of political science from 1999–2002 and on an interim basis in 2003–2004. Bruce had been the junior member of the department's faculty from 1968 until I arrived in 1996 (!), and then led the department through a generational shift where he quickly became the senior member. He was a wonderful mentor to junior faculty and always had time to discuss teaching and career-building strategies.
The Randolph-Macon faculty prides itself on defending its role in shared governance, and no member of the faculty fought harder for that role and earned the trust of both administration and the faculty for the responsible exercise of shared governance. As a young activist in the mid-1970s, Bruce was part of the first unionization effort at a private college in the South. The union drive fell short, but the effort won for the faculty the Handbook provisions that with amendments still govern the institution today. Bruce served on just about every policy-setting committee and task force over the course of his career. He chaired our tenure and promotion and committee, and served on the curriculum committee and Executive Committee. He was elected seven times to serve as the Faculty Representative to the Cabinet and to the Board of Trustees, where he represented the faculty with great vigor. As a political scientist, Bruce understood that when lobbying relationships have to be built over time, data have to be carefully researched and honestly presented, and that sometimes you have to come back year in and year out with the same argument before you are successful. Over the last several years the board has finally adopted, after Bruce had just left the Faculty Representative post, one of Bruce's key endowment-management proposals.
Bruce served on strategic planning committees, two reaffirmation of accreditation self-study committees, and three dean/provost search committees. In 1998–1999 he served very successfully as interim dean of the college.
A lover of many forms of music, as long as it was written and performed before 1964, Bruce capped his career with a local radio show, “Stay Loose with Bruce,” during which he would play folk, early rock and roll, cowboy music, and dedications to his faculty friends. Bruce could also recite the lines from the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. Indeed, he had a phenomenal memory, especially for the titles and theses of works he read 40 years earlier and for the precise meals he enjoyed at restaurants around the world.
Bruce's departure from the faculty leaves us with the enormous challenge to meet his high standards. One former student wrote, “Between Dr. Unger and the sorely missed late Dr. [Howard] Davis I dare say Randolph-Macon's political science department was comparable to any of the ‘elite’ small college and ‘ivy league’ political science departments. The one difference that in my mind made R-MC superior to other political science departments was that Bruce and Howard always had time for their students.” This is the legacy we most aspire to honor in our teaching.
Another former student remembered, “I know that he was proud of his children and loved his family very much because of the stories that he told and the way his face lit up when speaking about them.” Bruce is survived by his wife, Arlene; daughter, Ashley; son, Erik; and daughter-in-law, Heather.
