UW News

April 15, 2004

Bothell prof Jacoby named to Harry Bridges endowed chair

UW Bothell Professor Dan Jacoby has been appointed to the Harry Bridges Endowed Chair in Labor Studies for two years, beginning in September. This position holds responsibilities across all three UW campuses as a function of the College of Arts and Sciences.


Jacoby was chosen for his outstanding work on labor issues including multiple articles on the history of apprenticeship and a book entitled Laboring for Freedom: A New Look at the History of Labor in America (1998).


“As I see it,” Professor Jacoby says, “labor and education are the central elements of our lives. What we make of our lives depends crucially upon how we structure the institutions surrounding these activities. The worker’s rich tradition of struggle serves as a reminder that the world as it is need not be passively accepted. The tools of critical thinking are the same for the student, the worker and the citizen. My hope is to help ensure that the Center for Labor Studies continues to direct its energy towards realizing these goals and to build outreach to wider audiences so that the common ground we share is more widely understood.”


In addition to his new responsibilities, Jacoby will continue to teach both in the UW Bothell Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (IAS) undergraduate program and in the Master of Arts in Policy Studies Program.


Jacoby is a founding faculty member of the UW Bothell Liberal Studies Program (now named IAS) and has held numerous leadership positions on committees and task forces including two years as the Vice Chair and Chair of UW Bothell’s General Faculty Organization.


The Harry Bridges Endowed Chair in Labor Studies is the first university chair in the country endowed by workers and was named in honor of Harry Bridges, who led the 1934 strike of West Coast waterfront workers. Bridges also formed the International Longshoremen’s and Warehouseman’s Union (ILWU) and was its president from 1936 to 1975. When he died in 1990, supporters raised over $1 million to fund the endowment.