Evans, Robert Henry 1937-2005

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EVANS, Robert Henry 1937-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born April 1, 1937, in Bristol, England; died of cancer, July 19, 2005, in Kennesaw, GA. The president of the American University of Rome, Evans was an authority on international relations and government who was also former director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy. Though born in England, Evans spent much of his childhood in France, becoming fluent in French, as well as Italian, and graduating from the Institut des Études Politiques in 1959. He then taught geography, history, and English in France for two years before attending the University of Denver for his graduate work. Here he earned an M.A. in 1961 and a Ph.D. in 1966. In between these degrees, he worked at the Bologna center as assistant to the director. Evans then returned to America to teach at the University of Notre Dame from 1966 to 1971. Next, he joined the University of Virginia faculty as a professor of government and foreign affairs, a department he chaired from 1982 to 1987. In 1992, he returned to Bologna to direct the School of Advanced International Studies, an institu-tion that assists foreign governments that wish to become more democratic. Evans left Bologna in 2003 to accept the office of president at the American University in Rome, and was still serving in that capacity when he died. The year he left Bologna for Rome, Evans was presented with numerous awards in gratitude for his work. Among these were the Turrito d'Oro from the mayor of Bologna, the Sigillo d'Ateneo from the University of Bologna, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Johns Hopkins University, and, along with his wife, the Founder's Award from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. He was the author of Coexistence, Communism and Its Practice in Bologna, 1946–1965 (1967), as well as contributing to a number of other publications.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Washington Post, August 4, 2005, p. B7.

ONLINE

American University of Rome Web site, http://www.aur.edu/ (September 19, 2005).

Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies Web site, http://www.jhubc.it/ (September 19, 2005).

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