UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #711
ROGERS, JOEL

ROGERS, Joel (1952- )
Professor of Law, Sociology, and Political Science
At UW: 1987-

Interviewed: 2005	
Interviewer: W. Lee Hansen
Length: 30 minutes

Educational background; Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS); Industrial Relations Research Institute (IRRI). 

Interview Session (April 8, 2005): Tape 1

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:30	Joel Rogers discusses his educational background.  He taught at Rutgers and the University of Miami.

00:01:02	JR relates why he chose to come to the University of Wisconsin.

00:03:05	He started the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) with Wolfgang Streeck in 1992.  COWS operates as a field laboratory for policy experiments and promotes high-wage, low-waste, democratically accountable economic development. 

00:05:00	JR was affiliated with the Industrial Relations Research Institute (IRRI).  He conducted research on labor unions and labor law but he never taught in the IRRI.

00:06:39	JR talks about the "Wisconsin Idea." 

00:07:49	He describes the strengths of the IRRI:  its democratic culture, commitment to working people, and diversity of faculty.

00:09:09	The inability to grant tenure was a major weakness of the IRRI.  Furthermore, the decline of the post-World War II industrial relations system adversely affected the IRRI.

00:11:56	JR thinks no efforts would have saved the IRRI.

00:13:48	He compares COWS to the IRRI.  JR also talks about the COWS training program.

00:18:13	He and W. Lee Hansen discuss the LaFollette Institute.  JR describes his vision for the institute.  They go on to talk about the relationship of university institutes to the Wisconsin state economy; both note the decline in interest in public policy among faculty.

00:23:29	JR holds the state government and university equally to blame for a lack of cooperation on public policy initiatives.  He and Hansen discuss the vicissitudes of state politics during the governorship of Tommy Thompson.

00:28:34	JR doubts that it would have been a good idea to integrate COWS, LaFollette, and the IRRI.

00:30:11	JR misses some of the personalities of the former IRRI.

00:30:45	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END