Profile of Professor Dean McHenry, SPE

Professor Dean Eugene McHenry, Jr. is the Chair of the Program in Politics and Policy at Claremont Graduate University. He is a calm and courteous gentleman, with a kind smile and a genuine interest in people. Always to be found where students need his presence as a mentor; you may see him, surrounded by students at Claremont’s International Place for the Thursday Lecture Luncheon Series; or in his office, patiently offering his guidance and support.

He is a non-conformist who encourages creativity in thinking and innovation in research methods. He represents one of the few Perestroikan voices in the Department of Politics, calling for diversity in research methodology and for recognizing the validity of qualitative as well as quantitative research techniques in political science.

Professor McHenry is part of a family of distinguished academicians. His late father, Dean E. McHenry (1910-1998), also a political scientist, was the founding chancellor of the University of California at Santa Cruz; and his brother, Henry McHenry, a well-known scholar is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Davis.

A man who respects moral ideals, Professor McHenry may be heard cautioning his students against the misuse of academic research. Sitting in his PP. 350 Comparative Politics class, I remember his comment that when contemplating a topic for research, it is important to think about who the research will affect and in what ways. He tells an interesting anecdote about an African dictator who, after undertaking a successful coup d’état, then referred to an academic dissertation in order to pinpoint all the cronies and the covert supporting network of his predecessor’s regime and then proceeded to annihilate them.

Professor Dean McHenry, Jr. was born in Los Angeles, California. However, the quest for knowledge (and perhaps a thirst for adventure?) has continuously led him from one part of the world to the next. As you may read at his CGU homepage at http://www.cgu.edu/pages/436.asp :

“Immediately upon graduation from Oberlin College in 1961, McHenry went to Africa as part of a British-American aid program to supply teachers for secondary schools in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The program provided a fellowship to Makerere College (at the time, the premier East African university and a college of the University of London) to obtain a graduate diploma in education in return for a commitment to teach in a government secondary school for two years. Following completion of the diploma and two years of teaching in Tanzania, he entered Indiana University’s graduate program in political science where he specialized in African politics. His MA was awarded in 1966 and his Ph.D. in 1971.”

It is noteworthy that Professor McHenry is also fluent in Swahili. Reading his impressive Curriculum Vita, I followed his life trajectory from Bloomington, Indiana to the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; to Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island; and the University of Calabar, in Nigeria. He joined CGU in 1982, when it was still known as Claremont Graduate School. In his 24 years at CGU, Professor McHenry's dedication is reflected not only by his teaching capacity but also by his willingness to serve as Chair of the Program in Politics and Policy from 1995 to 1997 and from 2005 to the time present; as Associate Provost for Academic programs and Policy from 1998 to 2000; and as Interim Dean of the School of Politics and Economics from 2000 to 2001. He is also affiliated to the Claremont Colleges’ Intercollegiate Department of Black Studies and currently serves as co-Chair of the Certificate Program in Africana Studies at CGU.

His field of specialization is Comparative Politics and his research interests have led him to travel, not only in Africa, but also in Australia and in India. His research has focused on the issues relating to “the plight of socialism, separatist/ new state movements, the politics of ethnicity and nationalism, and the process of democratization in the Third World.” (http://www.cgu.edu/pages/436.asp)

Professor McHenry has made significant contributions to academia through his extensive publications. He has written numerous journal articles and book chapters. He has also compiled a bibliography of Ujamaa Villages in Tanzania that has been published in Uppsala, Sweden by the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies in 1981. His first book was Tanzania’s Ujamaa Villages, The Implementation of a Rural Development Strategy (Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, University of California, 1979). This book examines the merits of Tanzania’s experience in communal production that was founded upon President Nyerere’s vision of development. His second book was entitled Limited Choices, The Political Struggle for Socialism in Tanzania (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1994). This book reflects the author’s belief in the importance of forging political systems in Africa that conform to and are sustained by the indigenous grassroots culture.

Professor McHenry actively participates in academic conferences and has presented a multitude of papers at such academic gatherings as the Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association and the Annual Meeting of the American political Science Association. (For a complete list of his publications and conference papers you may go to http://www.cgu.edu/include/spe/Dean%20McHenry%20CV%202006.pdf )

Professor McHenry has spearheaded a program that has created an education partnership between the Department of Political Science at CGU and that of the University of Kerala in India. The program includes an exchange of faculty and students between the two Universities and seeks to promote cooperation and mutual understanding between the two departments. In spring 2006, Professor Varkey of the University of Kerala spent a few months in Claremont as part of the program, and I remember his comments about the kindness that Professor McHenry had extended to him and the hospitable spirit with which he had offered him the use of his personal bicycle to facilitate his movement around the school campus. Always friendly and sympathetic, this thoughtful gesture is typical of Dean McHenry.

Professor McHenry is also the Secretary of the United Nations Association, Pomona Valley, California chapter. He resides in Claremont with his wife Jackie, who is a Claremont City Council Member.