Robert McAhren

Robert McAhren, professor of history emeritus at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va., died on August 4, 2009, in Lexington. He was 73. A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. on Wednesday, August 19, 2009, in the Lee Chapel on the Washington and Lee campus with the Rev. William M. Klein of Lexington Presbyterian Church presiding. The service will be followed by a reception at the Alumni House, also on campus.
McAhren was born in Sioux City, Iowa. He attended Southern Methodist University, earning B.A. with high honors. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Texas in Austin in 1967. He was a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society, and Phi Beta Kappa.
He joined the Washington and Lee faculty in 1966 as an instructor in history and progressed through the faculty ranks to full professor in 1975. He taught courses in early American history and American social and intellectual history.
From 1971 to 1977, he served as associate dean of the college. He was acting head of the Department of History during the 1986 to 1987 academic year, and then served two terms as the head of the department from 1988 through 1998.
In 1990, McAhren was named chairman of the University's Institutional Effectiveness Committee, which was responsible for strategic planning based on surveys of students, faculty and alumni opinion about the university. McAhren's leadership of that committee set the groundwork for the university's Office of Institutional Effectiveness. He was the editor of the university's Self-Study Report for 1998 and instrumental in establishing both a five-year and long-range plan.
In 2000, he chaired the Faculty Task Force on Inclusiveness at Washington and Lee. That task force eventually gained committee status. Among the initiatives for which the task force was responsible were the addition of sexual orientation in the university's nondiscrimination statement and greater recruitment efforts for students and faculty of color.
In his personal life, McAhren loved opera and cats, was an avid collector of model trains and belonged to That Club of Lexington.
He is survived by his longtime friend and partner, Thomas Oxendine.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in McAhren's honor to Washington and Lee University, Office of Development, 204 W. Washington St., Lexington, Va. 24450-2116 or to the Rockbridge SPCA, P.O. Box 528, 10 Animal Place, Lexington, Va. 24450.