Charles Taylor, professor of political science in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of professor emeritus by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The emeritus title may be conferred on retired professors, associate professors, and administrative officers who are specially recommended to the board by Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board receive an emeritus certificate from the university.

A member of the university community since 1970, Taylor’s scholarship focused on the analysis of political and social stability across nation-states. He paid particular attention to developing quantitative indicators of political and social conditions as well as on methodological techniques for employing such data. His most recent work studied the entry of working men and women into the British political system between 1763 and the founding of the Labour Party in 1918.

Taylor was instrumental in creating the international studies program in his department and further supported the Department of Political Science as its head, as director of undergraduate studies, and as an undergraduate advisor.

In the classroom, Taylor taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses, ranging across the political science and international studies curricula, as well as seminars in the University Honors Program (now the Honors College). He advised many students on doctoral dissertations, master’s degree theses, and honors’ theses.

For his work, Taylor was recognized with Virginia Tech’s Alumni Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising in 2008 and the Alumni Award for International Outreach in 2011. He was inducted into the Academy of Advising Excellence in 2008.

Taylor received his bachelor’s degree from Carson Newman College and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Yale University.

 

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