The William E. Leuchtenburg Professorship
(One of The Margaret and Paul A. Johnston Professorships)
William E. Leuchtenburg, a former William R. Kenan Jr. Professor, is a noted authority on recent American history.
Leuchtenburg was born in Ridgewood, N.Y., in 1922. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1943. He completed his graduate studies at Columbia University, where he earned an M.A. in 1944 and a Ph.D. in 1951. Before joining UNC-CH in 1982 as William R. Kenan Jr. Professor, Leuchtenburg taught at New York University, Smith College, Harvard University and Columbia. He retired from UNC-CH in 1992.
Leuchtenburg wrote and edited countless volumes on Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency and the New Deal. His articles have appeared in academic journals and the popular press. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Mellon Senior Fellow and a fellow at the National Humanities Center and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Leuchtenburg's opinion on current and historical events is highly respected by various media outlets. For example, he was a presidential inauguration analyst for PBS and CBS; a consultant and elections analyst for NBC; a consultant for several Ken Burns documentaries, including "The Civil War" and "Baseball"; a consultant for South Carolina Educational Television; and a consultant for the Insignia Films production, "Lindbergh."
Leuchtenburg is married to Jean Anne.
The Margaret and Paul A. Johnston Professorships were established in 1987 by a bequest in Paul A. Johnston’s will for more than $10 million -- the second largest bequest received by the University. The series of professorships in the College of Arts and Sciences honors retired faculty members. The number of professorships varies, as does the academic disciplines to which they are assigned. Paul Johnston specified that the retired faculty members for whom professorships are named must be living when the professorships are created. For more information on the Johnstons, see the entry on The Margaret and Paul A. Johnston Professorships.
William E. Leuchtenburg Professors:
1998-99: Bereket Selassie, Curriculum in African & Afro-American Studies