Yale Bulletin
and Calendar

January 18-25, 1999Volume 27, Number 17




























Two faculty members are honored
with Sterling Professorships

David R. Mayhew, leading authority on American politics

David R. Mayhew, a noted specialist on American government and politics, has been named Sterling Professor of Political Science by vote of the Yale Corporation.

Mayhew is considered an authority on American political parties, party control of the national government and on Congress. He has written two award-winning books on these subjects: "Divided We Govern: Party Control, Lawmaking, and Investigations 1946-1990," published by the Yale University Press in 1992, which won the Richard E. Neustadt Prize; and "Congress: The Electoral Connection," published by the Yale University Press in 1974, which was co-winner of the Washington Monthly book award. His other books are "Party Loyalty among Congressmen: The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans, 1947-1962" and "Placing Parties in American Politics." Mayhew, who has often been cited by the media in articles and reports on Congress, national government and U.S. politics in general, has also written numerous articles. He is currently at work on the book "Actions in the Public Sphere: Members of Congress from James Madison to Newt Gingrich and Beyond."

Mayhew's research on the organization and behavior of American political parties and his examination of government have drawn national attention. In "Divided We Govern," he debunked the conventional notion that national government functions more effectively when both the executive and legislative branches are controlled by one political party. His analysis of Congress' performance over a 44-year period concluded that split party rule has little or no effect on the frequency of lawmaking or major investigations.

Mayhew earned his B.A. from Amherst College and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He taught at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst 1963-67 before joining the Yale faculty in 1968. He was promoted to a full professorship in 1977 and was appointed the Alfred Cowles Professor of Government in 1982. He served as acting chair of the political science department 1976-77 and was its chair 1979-82.

Mayhew has served as a member of a number of professional committees, including the national council of the American Political Science Association (APSA). He has chaired the APSA nominating committee and has been a member of the Board of Overseers of National Election Studies. In addition, he has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Politics and Polity.

In recognition of his scholarship, Mayhew has received numerous awards, including Woodrow Wilson, APSA Congressional, Yale Junior Faculty, Hoover National and Guggenheim fellowships, and a grant from the National Science Foundation. He has been a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Sherman Fairchild at the California Institute of Technology and at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. His other honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984.


Edwin McClellan, scholar and translator of Japanese literature

Edwin McClellan, a leading scholar and translator of Japanese literature, has been named Sterling Professor of Japanese Studies by vote of the Yale Corporation.

McClellan, who has been a member of the Yale faculty since 1972, is noted for his translations of major Japanese works, including the novels "Kokoro" and "Grass on the Wayside" by Natsume Soseki. His 1976 translation of the novel "A Dark Night's Passing" by Naoya Shiga was awarded the Japan Translation Prize and was named an outstanding academic book of the year by Choice, and his interpretation of Eiji Yoshikawa's memoir "Fragments of a Past" won the 1995 Noma Translation Prize.

McClellan's other works include "Two Japanese Novelists: Soseki and Toson" and "Woman in the Crested Kimono," which was selected in 1985 as a "notable book of the year" by The New York Times Book Review.

A native of Kobe, Japan, McClellan holds a M.A. degree from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He joined the faculty at the University of Chicago in 1957 and taught there until his Yale appointment. He was the Carl Darling Buck Professor of Japanese Literature at the time of his departure from there.

At Yale, McClellan was named the Sumitomo Professor of Japanese Studies in 1979. He has held numerous academic posts, serving as chair of the department of East Asian languages and literatures 1973-82 and again 1988-91. In addition, he has chaired the Council on East Asian Studies and the Council on the Humanities, as well as numerous fellowship and prize committees. His other activities have included serving as a guest lecturer for Yale Alumni Association-sponsored trips to Japan and China.

McClellan's professional involvements have included serving as director-at-large of the American Oriental Society and as a consultant for the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has advised both Princeton and Harvard universities about their programs in Japanese literature and East Asian Studies. He currently serves on the editorial board of The Journal of Japanese Studies and is a trustee of the Society for Japanese Studies at the University of Washington.

An invited lecturer at universities in both the United States and Japan, McClellan has also been invited as "a guest of the nation" by Japan's Foreign Ministry. In 1998, the Japanese government awarded him its Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. Four years earlier, he became only the fourth foreign national to win the Kikuchi Kan Prize, one of the highest honors recognizing contributions to the Japanese culture. A festschrift in McClellan's honor was published in 1997 by the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies. His other honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.