Edward Weidner
Edward Weidner was an educator, public administration scholar and founder of the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay Weidner Center. Edward W. Weidner was born July 7, 1921, in Minneapolis, the second of two children of Lillian and Peter Weidner. He attended public schools and graduated from Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis in 1939.
His children enjoyed exposure to world cultures during their early years. Ed and Jean followed his education and public-service career to postings around the globe throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Edward W. Weidner began his distinguished academic career as a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Minnesota, where he also completed an M.A., and Ph.D. in political science, in 1946. He first pursued his interest in public administration in graduate school, when he worked as a research associate for the National Municipal League. He also did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin.Career
As an assistant professor at Minnesota, Dr. Weidner was assistant director of research in intergovernmental relations. He moved on to a one-year faculty post at UCLA and then to Michigan State University. There, over a period of 12 years beginning in 1950, he added activities in technical assistance, educational exchange, international development and administration, serving as director of the Governmental Research Bureau, chairman of the Department of Political Science, and director of the Institute of Research on Overseas Programs. His work brought him and his family to countries including Vietnam, where he was consultant on assistance needs to the Foreign Ops Administration, and Pakistan, consulting on rural development academies for the Ford Foundation.
His books included The World Role of Universities. Technical Assistance in Public Administration Overseas, and Development Administration in Asia.
