In Review

(Photo: Adam Fenster)

‘Soaking & Poking’: Scholars and political junkies interested in the U.S. Congress, congressional elections, and the personalities behind them have access to the work of Richard Fenno Jr., one of the nation’s leading political scientists. Working with a web-design firm founded by Steve Bennett ’73 and with Robert Sachs ’70, who with Fenno started the University’s Washington Semester Program in 1968, River Campus Libraries has launched a website, www.richardfenno.com, that showcases Fenno’s national stature in political science as well as his 50-plus-year tenure on Rochester’s faculty. Known for what he called his “soak and poke” approach, Fenno was regularly given behind-the-scenes access to candidates and elected officials, drawing on those experiences to explore the lives of politicians and the nation’s political institutions in more than a dozen books and other publications. Now holding the rank of Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, Fenno marked 50 years of teaching in 2007.