OXFORD, Miss. – Donald Shores Vaughan, professor emeritus
of political science at the University of Mississippi, died
Thursday in Tucson, Ariz., at age 86. He retired from UM in
1988, after some 33 years of service.
Waller Funeral Home in Oxford is handling the arrangements,
which are to be announced.
“Dr. Vaughan was a good man who cared very deeply about Ole
Miss,” said John Winkle, professor of political science who
worked with Vaughan for nearly 15 years. “He was known
throughout Mississippi for his work to assist local
governments to be more successful.”
Vaughan joined the UM faculty in 1955 as an assistant
professor. He chaired the Department of Political Science
from 1968 to 1982. His other positions included assistant
director of Public Administration Research and assistant
director and director of the Bureau of Governmental
Research.
According to Winkle, Vaughan was responsible for developing
UM’s public administration program, both at the
undergraduate and graduate levels. With his research
focused on public administration at the local and state
levels, Vaughan saw many of his former students continue to
serve in government, Winkle said.
Born in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Vaughan received his doctorate
in American political institutions from Columbia University
in 1949. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt
University and master’s from the University of Alabama.
A retired U.S. Navy lieutenant, he joined the military as a
U.S. Navy Reserve Midshipmen in 1943 while at Columbia
University. He attended the Naval Academys postgraduate
school and the Submarine Chaser Training Center in Miami.
Assigned to the U.S.S. Portland, Vaughan served as a radio,
signal and communications officer in 1944-46. He also
served in New York and Memphis as a reserve.
Vaughan married Sarah Auten in 1945. They had two children,
Beverly and Kenneth.