August 28, 2018  |  News & Events, Sad News, Timely Announcements

Colleagues,

I share with you sad news from Professor Joseph Rodriguez, Chair of the History Department.  Dr. Glen Jeansonne, Professor Emeritus of History, passed away on August 25.  Dr. Jeansonne was a highly respected and valued member of the UWM Department of History from 1978 until he retired as Professor in 2015.

Dr. Jeansonne was raised in Louisiana and received his Ph.D in American History at Florida State University. During his long career at UWM, he published fourteen books and dozens of articles in numerous fields. He was an expert in the fields of American right wing movements and presidential history. He wrote his dissertation on the southern racist leader, Leander H. Perez, and he followed up with a biography of Gerald L. K. Smith and then wrote a biography of Huey Long.  His book on rightwing women during WWII (Women of the Far Right: The Mothers’ Movement and World War II) forged a new field in women’s history. Recently, he published two biographies of Herbert Hoover, and co-authored a book on history in the movies and  biographies of Elvis Presley and Barack Obama.

He was a superb teacher who directed legions of MA theses. He won the UWM Undergraduate Teaching Award, the Alumni Association Teaching Award, and the Career Research Award. He will be deeply missed by faculty, staff, and students in the History Department.

Dr. Jeansonne’s obituary is online.  A Memorial Gathering and Celebration of Glen’s life will be held on Wednesday, August 29th from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m., with speeches to begin around 6:45 p.m., at Northshore Funeral Services Chapel, 3601 North Oakland Ave., in Shorewood.

Our condolences to Glen’s family and to the many others whose lives he touched.

Take care,

Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs