June 5, 2018

Remembering Hubert Locke, Dean Emeritus

The Evans School is saddened by the loss of Evans School Professor and Dean Emeritus Hubert Locke, who passed away Saturday, June 2, 2018. 

Hubert was a renowned scholar and dedicated public and civic leader. Early in his career, he led the Citizen’s Committee for Equal Opportunity, a civil rights organization in Detroit. He served as Administrative Assistant to the Detroit Commissioner of Police, and published The Detroit Riot of 1967, his first-hand account of the riots and unrest that swept his city. He continued to work for policy reform throughout his career. He returned to higher education as the founding dean of the College of Public Affairs and Community Services at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, before coming to the University of Washington in 1977. 

In more than two decades of service at the University of Washington, Hubert contributed important scholarship on ethics, policy reform, and history while holding administrative roles including Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. As Dean of the then-named Graduate School of Public Affairs from 1982-1987, he saw the school through major budget cuts, and implemented key hiring decisions that led to the school’s growth in size, stature, and impact. He also continued teaching courses on ethics, urban policy, justice, and policing. 

He retired from the Evans School and UW in 1999, as Dean Emeritus of Public Affairs. Hubert’s lifelong legacy of advancing issues of race and social equity continues at the Evans School with the Hubert G. Locke Diversity Award, given each year to the student and faculty member who exemplify his commitment to a more equitable world, and the Hubert G. Locke Endowed Fellowship in Social Justice, which supports students pursuing internships in non-profit organizations devoted to social justice.

Hubert was a valued mentor, friend, and teacher to many at the Evans School. This is a sad loss for our community, but we are grateful for the lasting impact he made on our school and the University of Washington. The world is a more just place because of Hubert Locke.