Volume 58, Number 31    April 25, 2011         

Sally Scully
Professor Emerita of History Sally Scully died at her San Francisco home on April 15 of breast cancer, which was first diagnosed in 1993. She was 71 years old. Scully joined SF State in 1974 and retired in 2005. She taught undergraduate history courses on Florence, Love and Sexuality, the European Witchcraze of 1550-1650 and the Irrational in the Western Intellectual Tradition, as well as a graduate seminar on the History of Venice.

Scully completed her graduate work at Harvard in 1975, where she was among the first female history Ph.D. recipients. Her dissertation dealt with medieval canon law. Over the last several decades Scully's research focused on the trial records of a 17th-century Venetian woman tried three times for witchcraft. During her undergraduate years at Smith College (B.A., 1961), she won the Annual Prize for outstanding work in History Honors. Before joining SF State, she taught at Harvard College, the City College of New York and the College of the Holy Cross; she held a Robbins Fellowship at the Institute for Medieval Canon Law at the UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law.

At San Francisco State, Scully played leadership roles in Phi Beta Kappa and the United Professors of California. Scully was the first faculty director of the campus Presidential Scholars Program -- holding the post from 1996 to 2002 -- where she created a model "college within a college" program. Also, she twice directed the CSU overseas campus in Florence (1994-95 and 2002-03).

Scully is survived by her husband David McNeil, son Trevor McNeil, daughter Nadja Jackson, sister Susan Scully Troy, a granddaughter and several nieces and nephews.

A memorial gathering will be held in late May in San Francisco. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to charities that support the needy and promote human rights.

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Last modified April 21, 2011 by University Communications.