Zeller, Belle

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Belle Zeller (1903-1998), a professor emeritus of political science at Brooklyn College where she taught for over forty years, was born in New York City on April 8, 1903. Belle was one of nine children of a couple who had emigrated from Eastern Europe. Her father worked in a shoe factory. She attended Hunter College High school and Hunter College, where she specialized in history and the social sciences, earning her B.A. in 1924 and M.A. in 1926. She was one of very few female professors when she began teaching at Hunter College's Brooklyn Campus in 1927. Professor Zeller remained there when it became Brooklyn College in 1930 becoming one of the institutions's founding instructors. In 1937, she received her Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. Her doctoral dissertation, "Pressure Politics in New York" (Prentice Hall, 1937) was one of the first major studies of lobbying in New York State politics. She was recognized nationwide as an authority on lobbying and served as an adviser to Senator John F. Kennedy and other legislators who were revising the Federal Lobbying Registration Act. Belle Zeller was an indomitable leader of unions representing the City University of New York professors for over 30 years. Betwen 1944 and 1972, Dr. Zeller was the chairwoman of the Legislative Conference of the City College, a lobbying group that later became the first union to represent hte permanent faculty in the City University system. In 1972, the conference merged with the United Federation of College Teachers, a rival union representing part-time instructors. For the next four years, she was president of the joint group, the Professional Staff Congress. As a labor advocate for the professors, Dr. Zeller lobbied for legislation to establish tenure and pensions that today are considered some of the basic rights of public college teachers in New York State. She used her academic expertise in the legislative process to champion the rights of faculty members becoming a familiar figure at City Hall and the State Capitol. "When it came to representing the faculty, she was irrepressible," said Irwin H. Polishook, who was president of Professional Staff Congress after Dr. Zeller retired in 1976. "She would burst in on legislators who were busy with other business, even if they were behind closed doors, even if they were in conference. Because of who she was, people accepted that. She was able to get people's attention because she was a scholar as well as an activist.". Throughout her long career, Dr. Zeller was the recipient of numerous academic awards including an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Graduate School of City University in 1985 and the President's Medal from Brooklyn College on the institution's 50th anniversary in 1980. Dr. Zeller survived an accident at the age of 83 in which she was struck by a bus and critically injured. On Friday, May 22, 1998, Dr. Zeller died in her sleep at her home at the age of 95. Although she never married, five nieces and a nephew survived her.

From the description of The Papers of Belle Zeller, 192?-199? 192?-195? (Brooklyn College). WorldCat record id: 436870654

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn J. B. Matthews Papers, 1862-1986 and undated David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
creatorOf Zeller, Belle. The Papers of Belle Zeller, 192?-199? 192?-195? Brooklyn College
creatorOf Zeller, Belle. The Anglo-Russian policy in Persia since the war: a study in imperialism. Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University Libraries
Role Title Holding Repository
Place Name Admin Code Country
United States
Subject
Collective bargaining
College teachers' unions
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Birth 1903

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