Crotty, William J.

Political scientist William Crotty was born on April 14, 1936 in West Somerville, Massachusetts. He received his B.A. at Amherst College in 1958, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the Uni-versity of North Carolina (UNC) in 1963. His fields of research included democratic development, political parties, electoral behavior, and terrorism.

Before coming to Northwestern University, Crotty was an instructor in Political Science at UNC and then Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Uni-versity of Georgia (1963-1965). He also held several research assistantships and fellowships at UNC and other institutions. In the fall of 1966 he came to Northwestern University as As-sistant Professor of Political Science; he was appointed a full professor in 1974. He was active in the regional and national American Political Science Association (including serving as president of the Midwest Political Science Association) and in many political campaigns. He also served on commissions to observe elections in Honduras (1981), Argentina (1983), Nicaragua (1984), and Haiti (1987).

Crotty left Northwestern University in 1995 to take the Thomas P. O'Neil, Jr., Chair in Public Life at Northeastern University in Boston. He was later also named Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy at Northeastern.

From the guide to the William J. Crotty (1936- ) Papers, 1967-1995, (Northwestern University Archives)