Dr. Timothy O’Rourke ’67 and his wife Judy (White) ‘67 reside in Salisbury, MD, where he recently assumed the position of Dean of the Fulton School of Liberal Arts at Salisbury University.  The O’Rourkes have five grown children and one grandchild.

Over the course of an academic career spanning more than 25 years, Dr. O’Rourke has been a teacher, scholar, and public servant who has led pioneering efforts designed to bring campus and community together and to promote greater citizen engagement in the political process.  From 1995 to 2002, Dr. O’Rourke was the Teresa M. Fisher Professor of Citizenship Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.  He directed Kids Voting Missouri, a program in which nearly 68,000 Missouri elementary and secondary students went to official polling sites and voted alongside their parents in the 2000 presidential election.

Dr. O’Rourke was a professor and head of Political Science at Clemson University from 1992 to 1995.  Prior to that, he was a faculty member in the University of Virginia’s Center for Public Service.  From 1985 to 1992, he served as the Executive Director of the Virginia Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution.  Commission projects included the national opening of Montpelier, Madison’s home (1987); the “Constitution Train” to Philadelphia (1987); production of Worth Fighting For, an Emmy-Award-winning documentary on the ratification struggle in Virginia (1988); the celebration of the 200^th anniversary of the first federal elections (1989); and production of What No Just Government Should Refuse, an Emmy-nominated documentary on the writing of the Bill of Rights (1991).  From 1983 to 1986, Dr. O’Rourke coordinated “The Virginia Court Days Forums,” a Virginia public television series featuring town meetings on constitutional issues.

Professor O’Rourke is the co-author of State and Local Government: The Third Century of Federalism (1988) and author of The Impact of Reapportionment (1980), named by CHOICE as one of the Outstanding Academic Books of 1980 among a number of other publications.  He has testified before both U.S. House and Senate committees on various voting issues and has served as an expert witness in voting rights litigation.  A 1970 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. O’Rourke holds a Ph. D. in Political Science from Duke University (1977).