Dr. Dan Berger, professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, is recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Community-Engaged Scholar Award.
As a young activist, Dr. Dan Berger found special inspiration in the Black visionaries of the ’60s and ’70s.
So how, he wondered, did we get here?
“Here” is an era of mass incarceration, he said, in which more Americans have criminal records than have union cards. And he has made it his life’s work to answer that question.
A University of Washington Bothell professor of comparative ethnic studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, Berger believes incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people are essential historians, storytellers and community members.
For his far-reaching efforts to discover their stories, involve them in his scholarship and share their findings with the public, Berger has received the UW Bothell 2025 Outstanding Community-Engaged Scholar Award.
“So many wonderful colleagues on our campus are focused on community engagement,” he noted. “It’s a great honor to work at a place that values that kind of work — that recognizes our work isn’t just in the classroom or on the page but in the world.”