Education
Harvard University.
historian university professor
Harvard University.
He was Sather Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California Berkeley and president of the American Historical Association (American Heart Association) in 1978. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan of Dutch stock, he was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University in 1943.
Following three years in the Air Force he returned to Harvard, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy in 1950.
Bouwsma taught at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana until 1957 when he accepted a position in the History Department at University College Berkeley. After teaching for two years at Harvard (1969-1971), he returned to University College Berkeley as Chairman of the History Department, serving in this capacity from 1966 to 1967, and from 1981 to 1983.
He was chancellor for academic affairs from 1967 to 1969.