Professor Richard Ellis Stryker

August 3, 1939 – May 7, 2025

Bloomington: Dr. Richard Stryker, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, passed away peacefully on May 7, 2025. He lived in Bloomington with his wife Susan since 1970, after joining Indiana University, where he retired in 2003.

Stryker, along with his sister Jean Ann, spent their childhood moving around the United States with their mother Eloise, following his uncle who was in the military, before settling in Fort Collins, Colorado for high school. But it was his trip to Europe early in college that shaped his life’s purpose: seeing and understanding the world. In particular, and likely as a result of growing up poor, he dedicated his life at the intersection of Third World politics and poverty.

As a Professor and Dean, Stryker put his purpose to work with a passion and a gift for teaching. A faculty member in the Department of Political Science for 33 years (1970–2003), Stryker created new courses on developing nations, poverty and hunger in India and Africa, and third-world political economy. Many of his students regarded him not only as an outstanding teacher, but as the best they ever had.

As a result, in 1990, Stryker received the IU President’s Distinguished Teaching Award. Published widely in academic journals, Stryker contributed to scholarly and public understanding of the African economic crisis, development problems in the Third World, and world food policy.

It was the appointment as Executive Associate Dean of International Programs and Director of Overseas Study in 1989 that allowed him to put into practice his belief that global travel and study can change lives, like it had for him.

His devotion to overseas study during his 14 years (1989–2003) generated a breadth of opportunities for students matched by few universities. Under his direction, the number of IU students studying abroad and the number of IU overseas programs quadrupled, while their quality consistently improved.

Stryker’s long list of new and expanded programs includes the first exchange agreements with top Australian universities, the inventive “Beatles in London” program, and the nationally renowned Bologna Consortial Studies Program, which Stryker continued to manage in his retirement.

For three years Stryker also served as national chairperson of the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES), one of the leading study abroad provider organizations in the United States, with over 150 member universities. In 2003, he was awarded the IES Lifetime Achievement Award, a notable distinction in the field of study abroad. In the same year, he received the IU Distinguished International Service Award.

In 2007, perhaps in his proudest professional moment, he received the John W. Ryan Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Programs and Studies.

In retirement, Stryker continued his purpose and passion as the Director of Indiana University’s Emeriti House until 2016.

Stryker received his B.A. at the University of California, Riverside in 1962, his M.A. at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1964, and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1970.

Stryker is survived by his wife for over 60 years, Susan Stryker (Forth) of Bloomington, Indiana; his son Matt Stryker, daughter-in-law Rose Vondrasek, and grandson Sam Stryker

of Chappaqua, New York; his son Tom Stryker, daughter-in-law Krista Holmstrom and grandchildren Henry and Claire Stryker of Bloomington, Indiana; two sisters Jean Ann Brown in Cleveland, Ohio, and Sue Brown of Golden, Colorado.

A few weeks before Stryker passed, as his grandson was leaving for Asia, he said, as if summarizing his own life: “See the world, otherwise, you won’t know what’s there.”