William James Bouwsma (November 22, 1923 – March 2, 2004) was an American scholar and historian of the European Renaissance. He was Sather Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley and president of the American Historical Association (AHA) in 1978.

Early life and education

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan of Dutch descent, he was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. He received his B.A. from Harvard College in 1943. Upon graduation from Harvard, he joined the United States Army Air Forces where he spent three years as a classification specialist stationed in Denver, Colorado and became a buck sergeant. Following service in Army Air Forces, he returned to Harvard, receiving his Ph.D. in 1950.

Academic career

Bouwsma taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign until 1957 when he accepted a position in the History Department at U.C. Berkeley. After teaching for two years at Harvard (1969–1971), he returned to U.C. 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. He was an elected member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. In 1992, he received the inaugural Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award from the American Historical Association.

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