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William G. Monahan

William G. Monahan was Dean and Professor Emeritus of Educational Administration at West Virginia University. Born in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1927, he grew up during the Depression. Too young as yet to join the regular armed services, he served in the Merchant Marine late in World War Two, got married at the age of eighteen and enrolled in the regular army during the American occupation of Japan in 1946-47. He returned to attend Western Kentucky State College (now Western Kentucky University) from 1948 to 1950, completed his master’s at George Peabody College for Teachers (now part of Vanderbilt University) in 1955 and his Doctorate at Michigan State University in 1959. He then served as a professor of Educational Administration first at Oklahoma University and then at the University of Iowa before becoming Dean at West Virginia. After his retirement, he undertook to write this memoir, having type-written copies bound for his two sons Greg and Joe.

Title by William G. Monahan

  • From Cabbage to Cauliflower Memoirs of an Obscure Academic

    by William G. Monahan with Jane N. Monahan

    • Released: October 2021
    • Genre: Memoirs

    From Cabbage to Cauliflower offers a testament to the power and capacity of education to open the doors of opportunity and accomplishment to even the poorest and least likely of the nation’s citizens. Born to a working-class Irish American family in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1927, William G. Monahan was surrounded by love but not expected to amount to much. But he got lucky. He married a woman who saw more in him than he saw in himself, and they became an extraordinary team. He took advantage of the educational opportunities offered by the G. I. Bill to attend college, and after a few years as a high school teacher and a public relations manager for the Kentucky Superintendent of Schools, he completed a doctorate at Michigan State University and became a university professor. During his career, he published books in his field and became dean of the College of Human Resources and Education at West Virginia University. From Cabbage to Cauliflower chronicles his transformation from relative poverty in western Kentucky to become a respected academic, highlighting his remarkable and truly American climb up the social and educational ladder.

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