Winston Van Horne was born in Jamaica in 1944 and received his PhD in political
science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1972. Following teaching
stints at Ohio State University and Ohio University's Center for Afro-American
Studies, Van Horne joined the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1978 as chair of
the Afro-American Studies Program, a position he held until 1987. He later served as
chair from 1994 to 1998. Under Van Horne's leadership, the program grew in both size
and prominence, becoming a full academic department in 1986 and then expanding its
scope in 1994, when the department was renamed as the Department of Africology. Van
Horne also helped UWM implement a PhD program in Africology in 2008, which at the
time was only the eighth such program in the nation.
Besides his work with the Africology Department, Van Horne was active in University
governance and service. He served on the Faculty Senate for most of his UWM career
and various other faculty standing committees throughout his tenure, including the
University Library Committee and the Minority/Diversity Committee. Van Horne also
served as director of the UW-System Institute for Race and Ethnicity between 1987
and 1997, in which capacity he helped plan events and evaluate grant applications
from scholars across the UW System. Within the Milwaukee community, Van Horne helped
found the Community Brainstorming Conference, a monthly forum for discussing issues
facing the Milwaukee African-American community.
Van Horne died on May 23, 2013. On April 26, 2013, Room 206 in Mitchell Hall was
renamed the Winston Van Horne Seminar Room following a resolution from the Faculty
Senate honoring Van Horne's service to UWM and the Africology Department. A campus
memorial service was held on October 9, 2013, during which campus leadership, former
Secretary of State Vel Phillips, and Van Horne's son spoke in memoriam.
