Taking advantage of a 50 percent match offered by the university for new endowments by current and retired UW faculty and staff, last December Charles Bergquist and Hwasook Nam established a $50,000 endowment to fund research in labor studies. Grants for research on labor issues, both historical and/or contemporary, international and/or domestic, are available to qualified graduate students from across the university and will be handled through the Bridges Center for Labor Studies. The endowment will be administered by the Chair of the History Department.
Charles Bergquist served as the inaugural Bridges Chair from the History Department (1994-1996) and taught Latin American and comparative labor history in the department until his retirement in 2004. Hwasook Namreceived her PhD from the department in 2003 and is currently James Palais Endowed Associate Professor of Korea Studies with a joint appointment in the Jackson School of International Studies and the History Department. She has taught Korean and comparative East Asian labor history since joining the UW faculty in 2007.