Francis Sheldon Hackney (born in Alabama in 1933) is a prominent U.S. educator. He is the Boies Professor of United States History at the University of Pennsylvania. Hackney earned his Ph.D. in American History at Yale University, where he worked with eminent Southern historian C. Vann Woodward. He began his career as a lecturer in history at Princeton University. There, he taught in an Upward Bound program for disadvantaged students and played a role in the creation of the university's African American Studies program. While at Princeton, he moved into administration, serving as the provost from 1972 to 1975. From 1975 to 1980, he was the president of Tulane University and was president of the University of Pennsylvania from 1981 to 1993. He was also the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) from 1993 to 1997, appointed by President Clinton. He was the son-in-law of Virginia and Clifford Durr.[1]
Hackney specializes in the history of the American South since the Civil War. He has in an interest in American utopias and other social movements with an emphasis on the Civil Rights Movement and the 1960s. Among the articles and books on history that Hackney has published, Populism to Progressivism in Alabama won the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association.
Hackney was president of the University of Pennsylvania during the so-called Water Buffalo Incident, a controversial affair involving a student charged with racial harassment that raised issues involving free speech and university judicial procedures nationally. In particular, Hackney's role in the incident was a subject of his 1993 Senate confirmation hearings for the NEH appointment. Hackney published memoir about the turmoil of his confirmation, The Politics of Presidential Appointment: A Memoir of the Culture War [ISBN 1-58838-068-8], was published in 2002.
Hackney is listed as #87 in Bernard Goldberg's bestselling book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America.
Columnist John Leo's Sheldon Award, given "to the university president who does the most to look the other way when free speech is under assault on campus," was named after Hackney.[2]
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Herbert Eugene Longenecker |
President of Tulane University 1975–1980 |
Succeeded by Eamon Kelly |
| Preceded by Martin Meyerson |
President of the University of Pennsylvania 1981–1993 |
Succeeded by Claire Fagin interim |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by Lynne Cheney |
Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities 1993–1997 |
Succeeded by William R. Ferris |