IN MEMORIAM DR. RALPH P. HUMMEL

Early on the morning of March 20, one of the pre-eminent scholars on this campus passed away.  Dr. Ralph P. Hummel was a Professor of Public Administration.  He leaves a legacy of scholarly publications, including one of the seminal books of the last three decades on public organizational theory. Yet, as he would have been quick to correct me, it is the students that are the meaningful legacy.  Whether it was the many part-time students at Fordham, who had the good fortune to "hear" the evolving perspective that became the first edition of The Bureaucratic Experience; his political science and public administration students at Oklahoma, who heard lectures on the role of politics in bureaucratic decision-making; or finally his doctoral students at Akron, who were challenged, mentored and encouraged as they began that final phase in the transition from student to faculty; all were enriched by his warmth, his passion and a barely suppressed mischievous grin.  

One lesson all of us would learn from him was that words, spoken or written, matter.  He challenged us all to understand the world both as it was and as it could be.  He expected (demanded) that we (colleagues no less than students) give expression to our views, so they could be communicated to and through others.  He loved how a well-told story, metaphor or allegory could enrich our understanding.  

He was in awe of his students who juggled both the "real world" of work and family and the rigors of academic pursuit.  He understood that real life enriched, deepened and enlivened the students' understanding of academic discourse.  He wanted to know what his students thought about work life, because he cared about them as people, but also because he appreciated how that work-life shaped and influenced their academic work.  He admired their dedication, perseverance and their insight.  He was happiest when listening to them.

Ralph was a dear friend that I had the great pleasure of knowing for some thirty years.  In the early years of our friendship I remember many an evening on the telephone, because we were working in different parts of the country. But still more vividly, I remember our frequent conversations that could last quite literally hours as we stood in the hallway, or in the parking deck. Inevitably when I arrived home hours after I promised, my wife would say, “You ran into Ralph, didn’t you?”  Those conversations ranged from Weber, Habermas and Heidegger to local politics.  I missed them when he retired.  Knowing now that there will be no more, I miss them still more, but simply I will miss him.  

Dr. Raymond W. Cox III
Professor