ROBERT LYNN SAVAGE

Abstract

Professor Emeritus Robert Lynn Savage, 71, of Fayetteville passed away January 26, 2011. He was born February 26, 1939, in Fort Worth, Texas. He served in the United States Air Force from 1956 to 1959. Savage received his BA degree from Tarleton State College in 1963 and his MA degree from the University of Houston, where he served as a graduate and teaching assistant from 1964 to 1966. He graduated in 1966 with a thesis entitled “Absurdity and the Political System: The Political Thought of Albert Camus” under the direction of Professor John Green. Upon graduation, he served as an instructor before he continued his pursuit of a doctorate in political science from the University of Missouri–Columbia. He completed his academic work in 1971 with a dissertation entitled “Sociocultural Change and Policy Values in the American States.” His dissertation chair was Professor Dan Nimmo, with whom Bob maintained a lifelong friendship. Nimmo's influence shaped Savage's interest in political communication and behavior and state politics. His first appointment as assistant professor brought him to Auburn University at Montgomery, where he worked from 1971 to 1974, when he started his career at the University of Arkansas in the fall of 1974. He was promoted to associate professor just three years later in 1977 and to professor in 1982. He served as interim chair during that year and eventually as chair of the department from 1989 to 1998. Bob retired in 2001.