Charles A. Joiner, retired professor

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Charles A. Joiner, 82, of Chestnut Hill, a professor emeritus of political science at Temple University, died March 7 at Good Shepherd Penn Partners Specialty Hospital in Philadelphia.

Dr. Joiner, who retired from Temple in 1994, was chairman of the department of political science from 1962 to 1968 and public director of administration and executive development at Temple University from 1962 to 1968 and again in 1974.

An expert on South Vietnam, he was the author of two books, “The Politics of Massacre: Political Processes in South Vietnam” and “Administration and Political Warfare in the Highlands.” He also authored numerous scholarly articles on South Vietnam, including “South Vietnam’s Buddhist Crisis: Organization for Charity, Dissidence, and Unity.”

Dr. Joiner was one of a small group of political scientists whose firsthand experience in Vietnam dated to the early 1960s. At that time, he was a member of Michigan State University’s Vietnam Advisory Group, working in the area of public administration. From 1959 to 1961, he was an assistant professor in the department of political science and a public administration specialist at the Institute for Community Development at Michigan State University.

While on leave from Temple from 1968 to 1970, he was the public administration, higher education administration and research specialist for the Middle East and North African Regional Office of the Ford Foundation in Beirut, Lebanon.

At this time, he was a professor at the University of Lebanon and a consultant for the office of the president concerning reorganization of the university central administration and advisor for the faculty of law. He was also consultant to the Lebanese civil service commissions.

In 1961 and 1962, he was public administration consultant to the National Institute of Administration of the Republic of Vietnam. He also was an advisor to the Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration, an organization for scholars and practitioners of public administration. In 1963, he was a visiting lecturer on Southeast Asia in the department of political science at the University of Illinois.

Before beginning his teaching career, Dr. Joiner was a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association in 1958 and 1959. He also was a fellow for Sen. Edmund S. Muskie and Rep. Robert E. Jones to the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee of the Governmental Affairs Committee, U.S. House of Representatives.

Born in West Frankfort, Ill., he held bachelor's and master's degrees from Southern Illinois University and earned his doctorate at the University of Illinois.

He was a member of Temple University's Diamond Club, the Science and Art Club of Germantown, the Philadelphia Cricket Club and numerous professional and environmental associations.

Dr. Joiner is survived by his wife, the former Marion L. Steinmann. His first wife, Doris, died in 1978. – WF

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