Siminoski, Dan, 1947-

Biography

Dan Siminoski was born in Los Angeles on January 1, 1947, to a progressive family. He displayed his commitment to human rights at an early age, when he co-chaired Mid-City Youth Against Proposition 14, a state-wide initiative to invalidate the California Fair Housing Law. He studied at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was involved in the Free Speech and anti-war movements and became the Berkeley co-chairman of Senator Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign; he received a BA in Political Science and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1968. Before entering graduate school, Siminoski served as a staff investigator for the Fair Campaign Practices Committee in Washington, DC, and then as legislative aid to Senator Wayne Morse. He earned his MA with honors in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin in 1970, when he was also awarded a Ford Fellowship. His doctoral research brought Siminoski back to Los Angeles where he came out in 1973 and became active in gay rights causes. In 1976-1977, he was an Instructor in the Social Sciences Department at Long Beach City College. He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin in 1978. In 1979-1980, he was Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Arizona State University, and in 1980-1981, he held the same position at the University of Missouri St. Louis. He was appointed Visiting Lecturer in Political Science at Texas Tech University in 1981.

...