Professor Roger Kanet passed away on January 31, 2024. Until his retirement in 2019, Roger was a longtime and beloved Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University.
Humble and unassuming, Roger spent his life pursuing a love of knowledge. He credited his interest in Soviet/Russian studies to Fathers Falk and Hegy at Berchmanskolleg, and he pursued these studies across his masters and doctoral work at Lehigh University and Princeton University. His major teaching and research interests across his 53-year career focused on post-communist Europe, European and global security, democratization, and nationalism, fields to which he contributed extensively while at University of Kansas, University of Illinois, and University of Miami. Despite winning numerous awards across his career, culminating in the Distinguished Scholar Award for Post-Communist Studies from his peers in the International Studies Association, Roger was most proud of the progress of his former doctoral students, of whom he had mentored more than 50.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Roger’s name to Doctors Without Borders. The Department of Political Science will organize a celebration of his life in the near future. Our sincere condolences to his wife, children and family. You may read his full obituary here: https://www.harvey-engelhardt.com/tributes/Roger-Kanet
