Joseph Kauffman, Peace Corps Director of Training from 1961 to 1963, dies of cancer



Kauffman was an old friend of Ted Sorenson, who was a legislative aide to Sen. John Kennedy, D-Mass. During the presidential campaign of 1960, when Kauffman was dean of students at Brandeis University, Kauffman suggested speech ideas about "challenging college youth, some of whom wanted to do more than be affluent," Kauffman told the Wisconsin State Journal in 2000. After Kennedy was elected, Kauffman was the first director of volunteer training for the Peace Corps.

Joseph Kauffman, Peace Corps Director of Training from 1961 to 1963, dies of cancer

Kauffman, dean at UW in 1960s, dies of cancer

Also was exec for Peace Corps

By Aaron Nathans

Caption: An office portrait of Joseph Kauffman in 1977. Kauffman, a professor emeritus of educational administration, was dean of Student Affairs at the University of Wisconsin from 1965-68. He returned to Madison to teach in 1973 and went on to become executive vice president of the University of Wisconsin System from 1980-83. Photo: courtesy UW-Madison University Archives

Joseph Kauffman, the dean of student affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during the turbulent late 1960s and an architect of the Peace Corps, died on Friday, the university reported.

Kauffman went on to direct the university's doctoral program in university administration. He was an emeritus professor of educational leadership and a UW System executive.

The cause of death was cancer, the university said in a written statement. He was 84.

Kauffman was an old friend of Ted Sorenson, who was a legislative aide to Sen. John Kennedy, D-Mass. During the presidential campaign of 1960, when Kauffman was dean of students at Brandeis University, Kauffman suggested speech ideas about "challenging college youth, some of whom wanted to do more than be affluent," Kauffman told the Wisconsin State Journal in 2000. After Kennedy was elected, Kauffman was the first director of volunteer training for the Peace Corps.

In 1965, he was hired by Chancellor Robben Fleming at UW's dean of student affairs, putting him in charge of dealing with student protests against the war in Vietnam. The sit-ins began peacefully, but escalated in 1967. Fleming gained national attention when he bailed protesters out of jail in a gesture of good will.

"I attempted to be an advocate of the student, but it became increasingly impossible to deal with what I considered nihilists, who were more interested in destruction than working out mutually agreeable changes. It was a very difficult time," he said in the 2000 interview.

He left to become president of Rhode Island College in 1968, and returned to UW as a teacher and administrator in 1973. In 1980, he became executive vice president of the UW System.

"He valued universities and higher education so much, he passed that on to his students," said Judy Craig, emeritus associate dean in the College of Letters and Science. She was one of his students and was the last doctoral candidate he walked across the stage, in 1986.

Craig said he never fully understood why students resorted to violence while he was dean of students.

"He valued education so much that I think he had a hard time with the fact that there were people who reacted the way that students did at that time," Craig said.

His survivors include his daughter, Marsha Krasnow, of Boston, and son, Frank, of California. Graveside services are scheduled for Sunday at 11 a.m. at Forest Hills Cemetery, followed by a luncheon at Attic Angel Place, 8301 Old Sauk Road.

E-mail: anathans@madison.com

When this story was posted in October 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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