Our friend and colleague, Arthur Kalleberg, passed away peacefully on October 3, 2009, at the age of 78. He had been in retirement for the past 15 years. He was born in 1931 in Minneapolis and spent his youth there. After serving in the Navy during the Korean Conflict, he attended the University of Minnesota, where he received his BA (with honors), MA, and Ph.D.
He was an instructor at Mt. Holyoke College from 1960 to 1961 and served on the faculty of the University of Missouri–Columbia from 1961 until his retirement. He was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Liberal Arts/Humanities at Wesleyan University from 1963 to 1964. He also served as a visiting associate professor at the University of Minnesota from 1967 to 1968.
Professor Kalleberg had a reputation as a good and conscientious teacher at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He was a political theorist through and through and taught courses from classical to contemporary theory. He was always available to meet with students to answer questions they had about political theory and the theorists who spun them. His course in Scope and Methods was a pillar in our graduate program and introduced students to the rigors of research in the discipline.
Professor Kalleberg was a substantial scholar. His publications addressed topics that were timely and appeared in among other sources, World Politics, The American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, and Polity.
He served as the director of graduate studies from 1969 to 1970 and as chair of political science from 1970 to 1973. As an administrator, he was the epitome of fair-mindedness; as a faculty member, he brought sound judgment to collegial discussions. Professor Kalleberg was always available to listen to the concerns of others, and he was intensely devoted to the department. Late in his career, when no other faculty member came forward to be graduate director, he volunteered and served another three years in that office, even though he had already had that experience. In the department and on campus, he spoke up for an expanded role of faculty in governance and for sound academic values.
He was awarded an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship for the 1963–64 school year. In 1981, he was awarded the Byler Distinguished Professor Award and appointed to the Frederick A. Middlebush Chair in Political Science in recognition for excellence in teaching and research, a post which he held from 1980 to 1983.
Professor Kalleberg was an avid photographer and won several awards for his work in this area. He is survived by a son and a daughter and six grandchildren. Joan, his wife of 50 years to whom he was devoted, passed away two months following his death.
