Former Augustana director of International Programs dies in crash

Kim Tunnicliff, who spent three years as director of the Office of International Programs at Augustana College, Rock Island, died Thursday in a head-on crash, his twin brother, Scott Tunnicliff, said Thursday night.

Scott Tunnicliff, who is director of Hilltop Campus Village in Davenport, said the crash occurred in Ohio. His brother worked in Wooster as director of off-campus studies at College of Wooster.

“His son was celebrating his 17th birthday in Oak Park (Illinois),” Scott Tunnicliff said of his brother. “Kim had driven there for that and was on his way back to Wooster.”

The accident happened at 12:40 p.m. on U.S. 30 in Sandusky Township, Ohio.  Tunnicliff said his brother’s vehicle was struck by a van driven by a man who allegedly was drunk.

Kim Tunnicliff earned his bachelor’s degree from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Iowa, according to the College of Wooster website.

Tunnicliff taught international relations, American foreign policy, and Soviet politics for many years at Albion College in Michigan, and later served as the vice president of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest in Chicago.

He has been the director of the Great Lakes Jerusalem Program in Jordan, Israel and Palestine and has had administrative responsibility for programs in Russia, Costa Rica, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania, China, Ecuador and London.

Tunnicliff was appointed director of off-campus studies at the College of Wooster in 2010.

A Davenport native, Tunnicliff attended McKinley Elementary School, Sudlow Junior High School and Davenport Central High School.

He is survived by his wife, Virginia; a daughter, Alison; and two sons, Graham and Ian.