In Memoriam
Sanford A. Lakoff
May 12, 1931 - September 25, 2023
Sanford A. Lakoff, known fondly by most as “Sandy” – founding chair of the UC San Diego Department of Political Science and a 2018 winner of the university’s highest honor for emeriti faculty, the Revelle Medal – has passed away. Lakoff died at his home in La Jolla on September 25 at the age of 92. [read more]
Victor Magagna
August 11, 1954 - August 3, 2022
Longtime faculty member Victor Valentine Magagna, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science – who dedicated himself to teaching thousands of students over the course of three decades at UC San Diego – passed away Aug. 3, 2022. He was 67, a few days shy of his 68th birthday. [read more]
Tracy B. Strong
October 6, 1943 - May 11, 2022
Tracy B. Strong, Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy at the University of Southampton and Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego, of Chandler's Ford/New York City, died at home in Chandler's Ford, England on the 11th of May, 2022. He was 78. Strong was born in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Weixian (Weihsien), China during World War II to a Congregationalist missionary couple, Katherine Burr Strong (nee Stiven) and Robbins Strong. [read more]
Mathew McCubbins
December 8, 1956 - July 1, 2021
Mathew McCubbins, passed away on July 1st, 2021 after a lengthy illness. He was the Ruth F. De Varney Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law at Duke University. Before coming to Duke, McCubbins had been the Provost Professor of Business, Law and Political Economy at the University of Southern California and director of the USC-Cal Tech Center for the Study of Law and Politics at the Gould School of Law at USC. He spent 2013-2014 as the W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Robert Eckles Swain National Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. [read more]
Ellen T. Comisso
1947 - July 4, 2013
On July 4, 2013, the UC San Diego Department of Political Science lost a valued, dear colleague—Ellen Turkish Comisso. A pioneer in the study of East European political economy, a member of the generation of political scientists whose careers opened new paths toward gender equity, and a beloved mentor of young scholars, Ellen will be missed by many. [read more]