During 40 years in teaching, including 34 at Washington State University, H. Paul Castleberry touched the lives of many students. He taught courses in American government, international law and organizations, and U.S. foreign policy.
“He was never easy as he pulled and pushed, bullied and begged better work out of his students,” said Patrick Morgan, a former WSU faculty colleague in political science. “He sharpened minds and shook up views, and not just here [WSU]. He taught in London and has held Fulbright Awards for lecturing in Egypt.”
Castleberry retired from WSU in 1983. The longtime Pullman resident died February 1, 2002 in a Moscow, Idaho, care facility. He was 80.
He was acting chair of WSU’s political science department in 1957 and 1961-62, and chair from 1964 to 1968. He was active in the University Senate and held leadership positions in the Faculty Council and on several committees, including faculty executive and faculty affairs. As chair of the International Education Committee, he directed two Institutes of World Affairs. He also was co-founder of the Northwest Inter-Institutional Study Abroad Program.
A frequent speaker for campus and civic groups, Castleberry often stressed the need for changes in U.S. foreign policy to secure a lasting peace in the Middle East. In 1962, he was selected to deliver the University’s 10th address in the “Invited Address” series that recognizes scholarly achievement. In that address he said, “History reveals no president or secretary of state putting the interests of another country ahead of our own. Mistakes are often clear only after calculated risks produce the wrong result.”
Castleberry received two Fulbright awards to lecture in the Middle East—one at American University in Cairo, Egypt, 1953-55, and the other at Ankara University in Turkey, 1962-63. He taught two summers in study-abroad programs in Paris and London.
One floor in WSU’s Regent’s Hill residence hall is named the Castleberry House in his honor.
A native of Duncan, Oklahoma, Castleberry earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in government at Texas Tech University. He completed his doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1949, before joining the WSU faculty.
Memorials may be made to the H. Paul Castleberry Scholarship, c/o WSU Foundation, PO Box 644102, Pullman Washington 99164-4102.