George Sumner Bridges

Education

A native of Seattle, Washington, Bridges earned his B.A. degree from the University of Washington, and a M.A. in criminology and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Government service

While completing his doctoral work, he served five years as a social scientist in the U.S. Department of Justice in the staff office of the United States Attorney General (over the Ford, Carter and Reagan Administrations). One of his roles was 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. 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.

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 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. These studies of his prompted changes in the laws of state of Washington and federal legal policies on the administration of juvenile justice.

As Dean and Vice Provost at the University of Washington, he led initiatives to advance innovation in teaching and learning for undergraduate students.

Bridges served as president of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2015. In March 2015, he was named president of The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, succeeding Thomas L. "Les" Purce.

Bridges was widely criticized in May of 2017 for ordering campus police to stand down during student protests, which would go on to cause $10,000 worth of damage to the school. The protest was in response to faculty members refusing to leave campus for the "Day of Absence", wherein white people were told to leave the campus for the day. He also relieved students of homework assignments that might have been late because the campus was closed due to threats against students. Many videos have surfaced on the internet documenting the events that occurred during the shutdown of Evergreen's campus. Vice Media LLC filmed a piece highlighting the controversy. One segment of the film shows president Bridges being told to "Hold it" after informing students that were occupying his office that he had to use the restroom.

Whitman College

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

Appointments

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. 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.

Publications

Personal life

Bridges has four children: Anna, James, Lauren and Seth.