‘Warm, funny and committed to education’: Longtime UK professor John Stempel has died
John Stempel, a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer and director of the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky, has died, the university announced last week.
Stempel served as a Foreign Service Officer for 23 years, and was critical in expanding the Patterson School at UK. Considered an expert on politics in the Middle East, Stempel was a senior official in both Democratic and Republican administrations, working in the State and Defense departments. For two years, he worked as director of the State Department’s Crisis Center.
Robert Farley, senior lecturer in the Patterson School and a longtime colleague of Stempel, said Stempel’s influence on the Patterson School is “immeasurable.”
“Dr. Stempel was a relentless advocate for the Patterson School and its mission of providing foreign policy expertise to the University, to the city of Lexington, and to the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Farley said in a statement. “He is remembered by students and colleagues as warm, funny, and committed to education in international affairs.”
Stempel graduated from Princeton University in 1960, then served as a U.S. Navy officer for two years. He then studied political science at the University of California at Berkeley, earning his master’s degree and Ph.D, according to his biography on UK’s website. He published two books, both focused on foreign politics.
Stempel worked in the Patterson School for 26 years, as associate director from 1988 to 1993 and director from 1993 to 2003. Following that, he was a senior professor, and named a professor emeritus in 2013.
“The students and faculty of the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce are deeply indebted to Dr. Stempel’s contribution to our institution,” the Patterson School wrote in a post on Facebook. “He helped build this community into what it is today, and will be dearly missed.”