Ted Carmines passed away on Monday, July 7, 2025. Known worldwide as one of the top scholars on race in American politics – a topic that goes to the heart of American history and the American political structure – Ted earned the respect and admiration of social scientists for his outstanding and productive research record, his excellence in teaching, and his commitment to serve the university and the profession. According to Gary Jacobson, a distinguished professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego, Ted is "without question among the most accomplished, productive, and influential scholars of his generation.
Ted joined IU’s Department of Political Science in 1975 as a visiting assistant professor, attained a tenure-track appointment the following year, and became a full professor in 1984. The department voted him Chair for seven years and also appointed him frequently to the departmental Personnel Committee. He received IU’s Bicentennial Medal in 2020; the College of Arts and Sciences 2019 Distinguished Faculty Award, and in 2008 he was selected to present the Herman B. Wells Distinguished Lecture to Indiana University’s Society for the Institute of Advanced Study. He was honored as an Indiana University Distinguished Professor, the Warner O. Chapman Professor of Political Science, and a Rudy Professor. Ted worked with Rep. Lee Hamilton by serving for many years as Director of Research for the university’s Center on Representative Government, a non-partisan, educational institution providing extensive, free resources to schools among others.
A scholar of his stature could have gone anywhere he wanted, but he chose instead to direct his considerable talent toward institution-building at lndiana University," says Diana Mutz, Samuel A. Stouffer Professor of Political Science and Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ted’s exceptional legacy will live on in the Department of Political Science through the Center on American Politics, which he founded and led until his retirement. The Center will continue to support faculty and graduate student research in American politics, and serve as a hub for connecting scholars of American politics at IU with their colleagues across the country.
The College of Arts