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Created page with " {{Infobox person |name=William Edward "Bill" Bennett<br> (Political science professor<br>at Campbellsville University in Kentucky) |image= |birth_date=December 24, 1942 |bi..."
{{Infobox person
|name=William Edward "Bill" Bennett<br>
(Political science professor<br>at Campbellsville University in Kentucky)
|image=
|birth_date=December 24, 1942
|birth_place=[[Colorado]]
|death_date=April 3, 2006
|death_place=Campbellsville, [[Kentucky]]
|reigion=[[Baptist]]
|spouse=Estella Carolyn Davis Bennett
|children=Bryan Edward Bennett<br>
Aaron Coy Bennett
|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
}}
:Not to be confused with ''[[Bill Bennett]]'', the [[Secretary of Education]] in the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration
'''William Edward Bennett''', also known as '''Bill Bennett''' (December 24, 1942 – April 3, 2006),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mylife.com/william-bennett/e47107387020|title=William Bennett of Campbellsville, KY|publisher=Mylife.com|accessdate=December 1, 2017}}</ref>was from 1970 until his death a [[political science]] [[professor]] at Cambellsville University in Campbellsville, [[Kentucky]].
A native of [[Colorado]], Bennett graduated from CU in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He received his Master of Arts in political science in 1971 from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green and his [[Ph.D.]] in 1982 from the University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg, [[Mississippi]].
In his thirty-six years at CU, Bennett taught some six thousand students. Called a true “Christian professor," Bennett was a member of the Little Vine Primitive Baptist Church in Campbellsville. In 1996, he was named the CU "distinguished professor."<ref name=bio/>
Damon R. Eubank, professor and chaiman of the CU Division of Social Science, was a student of Bennett’s and later a colleague when Eubank came to CU to teach history. Eubank recalled how Bennett "could engage students, and he brought passion to teaching. He was an idealist who believed we could change the world through politics.” Eubank further described Bennett as a “teacher and lover of learning" who was "skilled,” “gifted,” “loved by students,” “eager to teach and have his students learn,” “great personal friend,” “dedicated and talented teacher,” “always going the extra mile,” “loyal and committed,” and “competitive.”<ref name=bio/>
Bennett served in the [[United States Army]] during the [[Vietnam War]]. For a time, he was an elected member of the Taylor County School Board. He was a president of Taylor County Academic Boosters and a public lecturer for the Kentucky Endowment for the Humanities. He was a member of the Kentucky, Southern and National political science associations, the National Association of Social Science Educators and Pi Gamma Mu, the history society of the social sciences. He was also involved in local and state politics and raised fruit in his spare time.<ref name=bio/>
Bennett often told his students that they could be taught merely by sitting still, but learning requires an active role on one's education.<ref name=bio/> He died at the age of sixty-three in Campbellsville of lung cancer<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.campbellsville.edu/about/files/2016/12/cvillianspr06-s60fcj.pdf|title=Professor William Bennett dies|publisher=Campbellsville.edu|author=Joan C. McKinney and Maegan Kennedy|date=May 2006|accessdate=December 1, 2017}}</ref> and is interred at Chappell Cemetery in Knifley in Adair County, Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://secure.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Bennett&GSfn=William&GSby=1942&GSbyrel=in&GSdy=2006&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=91547451&df=all&
|title=Dr. William Edward Bennett|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=December 1, 2017}}</ref>
In 2012, Bennett was posthumously honored by the Kentucky Political Science Association during the group's 51st annual meeting at CU. John Edward Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the CU president, who served as the 2011-12 president of KPSA, made the presentation to Bennett's widow, the former Estella Carolyn Davis; son, Bryan Edward Bennett, a Campbellsville [[attorney]], and grandson, Will Bennett. A second Bennett son is Aaron Coy Bennett, also of Campbellsville.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=https://www.campbellsville.edu/about/2012/03/28/campbellsville-university-honors-the-late-dr-bill-bennett/|title=Campbellsville University honors the late Dr. Bill Bennett|publisher=Campbellsville.edu|date=March 28, 2012|author=Joan McKinney|accessdate=December 1, 2017}}</ref>
A scholarship named in Bennett's honor is available annually at CU to a deserving student studying political science.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adaircountytoday.com/local-news/campbellsville-university-honors-its-students-and-faculty-at-awards-day-ceremony|title=Campbellsville University honors its students and faculty|publisher=''Adair County Today''|date=May 5, 2017|accessdate=December 1, 2017}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, William E.}}
[[Category:Kentucky]]
[[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Professors]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Baptists]]
[[Category:United States Army]]