George Sumner Bridges
6th President of Evergreen State College
In office
October 1, 2015 – June 30, 2021
Preceded byThomas L. "Les" Purce
Succeeded byJohn Carmichael
13th President of Whitman College
In office
July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2015
Succeeded byKathleen M. Murray
Personal details
Born (1950-09-16) September 16, 1950
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Washington (BA)
University of Pennsylvania (MA, PhD)

George Sumner Bridges (born September 16, 1950[1]) is an American sociologist and academic administrator who served as the president of The Evergreen State College from October 2015[1][2] through June 2021.[3]

Early life and education

A native of Seattle, Washington, Bridges earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington, followed by a Master of Arts in criminology and PhD in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.[4]

Career

Government service

While completing his doctoral work, he served for five years as a social scientist in the United States Department of Justice in the staff office of the United States Attorney General. One of his roles was as assistant administrator of the Federal Justice Research Program, conducting, designing, and funding research on federal legal policy.

Academic career

In 1981, Bridges accepted his first academic appointment in sociology at Case Western Reserve University. In 1982, he moved to his alma mater, the University of Washington, with an appointment in the department of sociology.[5] At UW, he rose to the rank of professor and associate dean and associate vice provost of undergraduate education. In 2000, he was appointed dean and vice provost of undergraduate education.[6]

Bridges’ scholarly work has examined crime and its measurement as well as law and the administration of law and justice. He has published articles in leading professional journals and several books[7][8] on these subjects. He studies the causes of racial disparities in imprisonment, identifying the mechanisms by which perceptual biases of racial and ethnic minorities give rise to disproportionately punitive outcomes for minority defendants in criminal cases.[9]

As dean and vice provost at the University of Washington, he led initiatives to advance innovation in teaching and learning for undergraduate students.[10]

Whitman College

Bridges served as the 13th president of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2015,[11][12] replacing Tom Cronin.[13] At Whitman, Bridges led the college’s $150 million fundraising campaign,[14] which reported $157 million raised as of March 31, 2015.[15] During his tenure, the college opened the Glover Alston Center (2010);[16][17] launched initiatives and dedicated funding for innovation in teaching, such as the Cross-Disciplinary Learning and Teaching Initiative;[18] established the college's Global Studies Initiative with a $345,000 grant[19] from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation[20] and expanded academic programs in the life sciences[21] and computer science.[22][23] The Whitman College Student Engagement Center was also established during Bridges' tenure which, in 2014, offered 120 paid summer internships to Whitman students.[24] In May 2012, Bridges secured a Mellon Grant for $150,000[25] for "Higher Education and Scholarship in the Humanities" with a focus on "Presidential Leadership."

Bridges's leadership at Whitman College was not without controversy. In 2010, Whitman College ended "need blind" admissions and by 2014 became the least economically diverse top college in the United States.[26][27]

While serving at Whitman College, Bridges was appointed to the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) in 2009. In 2013 he was named Vice Chair of the Annapolis Group of the nation’s 102 leading liberal arts colleges and served as Chair of the Annapolis Group in 2014-15. He serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Independent Colleges of Washington.[28] He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce in the city of Walla Walla, Washington, the home of Whitman College.[29]

Evergreen State

In March 2015, Bridges was named president of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington,[30] succeeding Thomas L. "Les" Purce.[31]

Bridges was president in 2017 when the campus was shut down as a result of a series of protests regarding racial inequality and oppression.[32] During a sit-in, Bridges was detained by students.[33] Bridges was also present when Campus Police notified a professor, Bret Weinstein, that he was unsafe on campus due to the protests.[34][35]

At the time Bridges assumed the role of president of Evergreen, student enrollment was already declining: It was 4,891 in 2009 and declined to 4,190 the year Bridges started.[1] Under George Bridges's leadership, the college full-time student enrollment decreased from 4,225 in 2015 to 2,209 in 2020.[36] The American Conservative summarized Bridges's tenure at Evergreen State as most notable for "his efforts to nudge and steer the entire campus toward one overarching philosophical framework, with those who resisted considered anathema by the prevailing culture."[1]

Publications

  • George S Bridges and Martha A. Myers, eds. Inequality, Crime and Social Control, 1994, Boulder. Colo.: Westview Press.
  • George S. Bridges, Robert D. Crutchfield and Joseph G. Weis, eds. Crime and Society: Criminal Justice, 1996, Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Pine Forge Press.
  • George S. Bridges and Scott Desmond, eds. Teaching and Learning in Large Classes, 2000, Washington D.C: American Sociological Association.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Gregg Herrington. "Meet the Most Embattled College President in America", The American Conservative, 29 August 2017.
  2. ↑ Hobbs, Andy (March 16, 2015). "George Bridges named president of The Evergreen State College". The Olympian. Retrieved August 14, 2022. Closed access icon
  3. ↑ Boone, Rolf (June 13, 2021). "Evergreen board gets faculty input, enrollment update as it finalizes interim president". The Olympian. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Whitman College picks UW dean as president". Seattle Times.
  5. ↑ "George Bridges". washington.edu.
  6. ↑ Roseth, Bob; Steve Hill (April 11, 2012). "Bridges brings rich history to post". University of Washington.
  7. ↑ Bridges, George S.; Myers, Martha A. (7 April 1994). Inequality, Crime, And Social Control (Crime and Society): George S Bridges, Martha A Myers: 9780813320052: Amazon.com: Books. ISBN 0813320054.
  8. ↑ "SAGE: Criminal Justice: Readings: George S. Bridges: 9780803990807". SAGE. 20 September 2021.
  9. ↑ "Bridges' Scholarly Work". Google Scholar.
  10. ↑ "Colleagues say Bridges tough to replace". The Daily. Archived from the original on 2014-09-01.
  11. ↑ "George Bridges". Whitman College. Archived from the original on 2015-03-20.
  12. ↑ "Whitman president Bridges stepping down". The Seattle Times.
  13. ↑ "The Seattle Times: Education: Whitman College picks UW dean as president". seattletimes.com.
  14. ↑ "Whitman College announces $150-Million fundraising campaign". Whitman College. 18 November 2011.
  15. ↑ "Now Is the Time". Whitman College. Archived from the original on 2015-04-25. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  16. ↑ "Construction History". Whitman College.
  17. ↑ "Glover Alston Center". Whitman College.
  18. ↑ "Cross-Disciplinary Learning and Teaching Initiative". Whitman College.
  19. ↑ "Global Studies : Whitman College - The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation". mellon.org.
  20. ↑ "About the Global Studies Initiative". Whitman College. Archived from the original on 2015-05-30.
  21. ↑ "Life sciences". Whitman Magazine. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  22. ↑ "Microsoft helps Whitman College establish computer science chair". The Seattle Times.
  23. ↑ Taylor Soper (2 April 2015). "Whitman College raises $8M from Microsoft, other donors to launch computer science program". GeekWire.
  24. ↑ "2014 Summer Internships". Whitman College. Archived from the original on 2015-09-15. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  25. ↑ "Mid-Career President: Learning & Development : Whitman College - The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation". mellon.org.
  26. ↑ "Whitman College and the Decline of Economic Diversity".
  27. ↑ "The Most Economically Diverse Top Colleges". The New York Times. 8 September 2014.
  28. ↑ "ICW Board of Directors". icwashington.org.
  29. ↑ "Board of Directors". Walla Walla Chamber of Commerce.
  30. ↑ "Whitman College president picked to lead Evergreen State College". The Seattle Times. 16 March 2015.
  31. ↑ "George Bridges Named Next President of The Evergreen State College". evergreen.edu.
  32. ↑ Hartocollis, Anemona (June 16, 2017). "A Campus Argument Goes Viral. Now the College Is Under Siege". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  33. ↑ "Evergreen Insanity: Students Forced College Pres. to Pee Under Escort". Intellectual Takeout. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  34. ↑ Weinstein, Bret (30 May 2017). "The Campus Mob Came for Me—and You, Professor, Could Be Next". Wall Street Journal – via www.wsj.com.
  35. ↑ "Professor told he's not safe on campus after college protests". King5.
  36. ↑ "The Evergreen State College Total Student Headcount and FTE" (PDF) – via www.evergreen.edu.
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