Richard F. Fenno

Richard F. Fenno Jr. currently serves as Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of Rochester. Two years before joining the University of Rochester's Political Science Department, he taught at Wheaton College and Amherst College. Fenno joined the University of Rochester’s Political Science Department in 1957. In 1959, Fenno’s PhD dissertation The President's Cabinet was published by Harvard University Press. In 1968, the Political Science Department’s Washington Semester Program was created under Fenno’s leadership. Fenno served from 1970-1978 as the Don Alonzo Watson Professor of History and Political Science. In 1978, he was named the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester. In 1985, Fenno was named “Distinguished University Professor.” In honor of Fenno’s service to the University, in 2005, the Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Seminar Room was dedicated in Harkness Hall. In 2007, Fenno celebrated his fiftieth year teaching at the University of Rochester. Fenno received two awards for his book, Home Style. In 1979, he won the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award and the following year the D.B. Hardeman Prize, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. Fenno was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983. From 1984 – 1985 Fenno served as President of the American Political Science Association. In 1986, the American Political Science Association’s Legislature Studies Section established the Richard F. Fenno Prize for best book on legislative studies. In 1989, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society.