William S.
Livingston
Senior Vice President, The
University of Texas
at Austin
Professor William S.
Livingston, political scientist, has been a faculty member at the University of Texas
at Austin since
1949. He served as Vice President and Dean of Graduate Studies from 1979 to 1995, and in 1982 was named to the Jo Anne Christian
Professorship in British Studies. Dr. Livingston was named Acting President of
the University of Texas at Austin
for the period from September 1992 through January 1993, while continuing to
serve as Vice President and Dean of Graduate Studies. In September 1995, he was
appointed Senior Vice President.
Dr. Livingston is a
former President of the Southern Political Science Association and of the
Southwestern Social Science Association. He served twice on the Council of the
American Political Science Association, and for four years was Editor-in-Chief
of the Journal of Politics. He is the author or editor of half a dozen books
and some 25 articles on federalism, democracy, and education.
In addition to his
teaching and research, which have centered on Britain and the Commonwealth and on
the comparative study of federalism, Dr. Livingston has held a number of
University administrative positions. He has been Assistant Dean of the Graduate School
(1954-58), Chairman of the Government Department (1966-69) and also its Graduate Adviser (1958-67), Vice Chancellor for Academic
Programs of the University
of Texas System
(1969-70), Chairman of the Comparative Studies Program (1978-79), and for six
years was Chairman of the University’s Faculty Senate. In the late ’sixties, he
was Chairman of an interim committee that planned the development of the Lyndon
B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. He has been actively involved in the
development of the James A. Michener Center for Writers, the Normandy Scholars Program,
the Edward A. Clark Center for Australian and New Zealand
Studies, the Faculty Seminar on British Studies, and the Graduate Assembly, the
representative body of the Graduate Faculty.
In 1993-94, the
University conducted a fund-raising campaign to endow a program of “Livingston
Fellowships in Graduate Studies,” headed by former Regent Wales Madden of
Amarillo. The success of the campaign has made possible the annual award of
several graduate fellowships, beginning in 1995.
He received a Ford
Foundation Faculty Fellowship for 1952-53 and a Guggenheim Fellowship for
1959-60 for research in England.
The UT Students’ Association honored him with a “Teaching Excellence Award” in
1959.
In 1992, the College of Liberal Arts conferred on him the Pro Bene Meritis Award “For
Outstanding Contributions to the Liberal Arts.” In 1994, the Parents’
Association gave him its “Award of Distinction” and in 1995, the Ex-Students’
Association designated him as a “University Distinguished Educator.” In 2001,
it bestowed on him its "Distinguished Service Award," only the second
time the award had been given.
In 1995, the Conference
of Southern Graduate Schools presented him with its award for “Distinguished
Service to Graduate Education,” and in the following year, the Texas
Association of Graduate Schools conferred on him a parallel “President’s Award
for Distinguished Service.”
A member of Phi Beta
Kappa, he received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in 1943 from Ohio State
University, and a Ph.D. degree from Yale in 1950. He served as
Visiting Lecturer in Political Science at Yale University
in 1955-56, and as Visiting Professor at Duke in 1960-61.
He is listed in Who’s
Who in America,
The Dictionary of National Biography, Contemporary Authors, and other reference
works, and in 1980-82 was National President of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national
Political Science Honor Society.
During the Second World
War, he was a field artillery officer in Europe,
where he was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
Dr. Livingston was born
July 1, 1920, in Ironton, Ohio. He is married to the former Lana Sanor, and they are parents of two sons, Stephen (b. 1947)
and David (b. 1949).