History professor named UW Tacoma's first Haley Professor

Michael Honey, professor of history and UW Tacoma founding faculty member, has been named the first recipient of the university's new Fred T. and Dorothy G. Haley Endowed Professorship in the Humanities.

Funded by a generous endowment from the late Fred and Dorothy Haley and their family, the Haley Professorship was established to attract and retain high-quality humanities professors. Dr. Honey, who will officially assume the professorship in September, hopes the new position will enable him to continue to make the study of humanities a priority at UW Tacoma.

"The purpose of the Haley Professorship is to shine a light on humanities and make sure it is a strong part of the curriculum," he said. "The professorship adds to our ability to highlight this field of study as a major part of our mission."

The Haley Professorship is named for Fred and Dorothy Haley. Fred Haley, former president and CEO of Brown & Haley, played a key role in the establishment of UW Tacoma and advocated for a four-year university with a strong foundation in the humanities.

Known locally as a champion of civil rights and civil liberties, Haley participated in the 1963 March on Washington and served on the state's Board Against Discrimination. Dorothy Haley, an active member of the NAACP who supported her husband's leadership on social issues, passed away in 2003. Fred Haley passed away in 2005. The couple had four children.

Honey, a nationally-recognized expert on labor history, civil rights and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., became friends with Haley shortly after the Tacoma campus was established. Honey is an especially fitting choice for the first Haley Professorship, UW Tacoma Chancellor Patricia Spakes said.

"Fred Haley envisioned our campus as a place where scholarship and study of the humanities could blossom in downtown Tacoma," Spakes said. "Dr. Honey is a living example of Fred Haley's vision, and his commitment to scholarship, community service and teaching is truly extraordinary."

"Fred was a great civil libertarian who believed in freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly, and I share those values" Honey said. "His vision for UW Tacoma was that the humanities should be the foundation on which the campus was built. He wanted to see thinking and ideas debated here, and that is what I see the Haley Professorship being built around."

Honey has taught labor and ethnic studies and American history in UW Tacoma's Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (IAS) program since 1990. Previously, he was on the faculty at the University of Puget Sound, Wesleyan University in Connecticut and the University of Maryland. As a founding faculty member at UW Tacoma, he helped shape the IAS program's academic concentration in ethnic, gender and labor studies. He held the University of Washington's Harry Bridges Endowed Chair in Labor Studies for four years.

Honey has received number of awards for his books and research on labor, history and civil rights, and has a long history of partnerships with the community on these issues. A guitarist, singer and former civil rights and civil liberties organizer in the Deep South, Honey links scholarship, music and public speaking with community and labor organizing. He frequently can be seen with a guitar case slung over his shoulder enroute to class, where he uses music as a teaching tool.

Honey is still developing plans for the professorship, which he will hold for six years. A prolific writer, he is currently planning a number of books related to labor and civil rights history. He also hopes to bring lecturers on issues of war, peace and nonviolence to UW Tacoma.

"I'm very appreciative of this recognition, especially since there are many deserving faculty members on this campus," he said.

UW Tacoma will honor Honey at a lecture and reception Thursday, April 26 at 6 p.m. in the Longshoremen's Hall, 1710 Market Street. Honey will discuss his acclaimed new book, Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign. Honey's lecture is presented as part of the UW Alumni Association's Washington Weekend April 26-29, an annual series of events on the UW campuses in Seattle, Tacoma and Bothell. For more information about Honey's lecture or Washington Weekend events in Tacoma, visit the UWT Alumni Association website.