Forever grateful to Will

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In his own words. Will Moore "punched out" earlier this week. Will was a political science professor at Arizona State University. He was also one of my close professors at Florida State University, and a friend. I wasn't one of his students (Steve and Kursad and then Joe, Jackie, and Courtney), but he was one of the more important people who helped me through graduate school. He helped get me to where I am today and I will be forever grateful.

At the end of my first year, Will warned me that there were a few faculty who wanted the program to get rid of me. Will wouldn't say who or why, but it seemed as though a number of faculty had concluded that I wasn't a good fit for the program. Those faculty were right, I wasn't a good it, but Will stuck with me.

Will helped mentor me over the next few years. He helped me learn more about writing reviews of journal submissions. He also offered to co-author a potential publication with him. The topic was civil war resolution, a topic about which I was more interested than he was. He took professional socialization seriously. Will allowed me to sit in on some of his undergraduate classes in order to learn more about his pedagogy. While some people hated it, he was a master at poker chips in the classroom. It shouldn't surprise people, but he didn't seem to have much patience for people who had no interest in paying it forward. You were unprofessional if you skimped on teaching, research, or service.

Will and I never fully clicked. We had several disagreements over the years. After reading his suicide note, I understand why somewhat better now. However, he served on my dissertation committee and wrote letters of recommendation for me. He told me that I would be a great candidate at a college that valued teaching and research; wanted someone who had an understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research; and had an interest in comparative politics and international relations. Exactly where I ended up.

During my dissertation defense three weeks before graduation and three months before I was to begin my new job, one committee member wanted me to add another chapter. The chapter would have been a more globalized version of my research - the transition of former armed groups to political parties. While I focused on the FMLN and URNG, the committee member thought that I should carry out a global analysis. No such data set existed at the time. Fortunately, Will and the other committee members had my back. Will had a pretty good sense of who I was and what made me tick.

Since graduation, I've tried to pay Will back. He would sometimes refer students and faculty with an interest in Central America to me. I was happy to help even though I knew that I could never assist them in the the way that he could. I answered his call to write a post for Political Violence @ a Glance and to participate in his and Christian Davenport's Conflict Consortium's Virtual Workshop. He cared about translating social science to lay audiences and helping young professionals in the field succeed. I will try me best to Will H. Moore it.

Rest in peace Will.