Ellen Kennedy, professor emerita of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, passed away on September 22. She was 80 years old.
A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Dr. Kennedy earned her bachelor’s degree from what is now Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C. She went on to earn her master’s degree in political science from Indiana University and her Ph.D. in government from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Her early career in academia included appointments at the Universities of London, York, and Manchester in England and at the University of Freiburg in Germany.
In 1989, Dr. Kennedy joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where she would remain until her retirement in 2015. As a scholar of political theory, Dr. Kennedy was known for her expertise on the work of German political philosopher Carl Schmitt. Her translations made Schmitt’s work accessible to a wide audience, shaping scholarship on law, constitutionalism, liberalism, and sovereignty. Dr. Kennedy’s research led to numerous books, including Constitutional Failure: Carl Schmitt in Weimar (Duke University Press, 2004).