Interview with Jane Collins

Partial Transcript: Faith Hoffmeyer: Ok, we're recording...

Partial Transcript: FH: Ok, so, what was your occupation title when you left UW?

Segment Synopsis: Grew up in Alexandria, VA. Attended U Virginia as part of the first "open admissions" class in 1972, graduating in 1976 and attending U Florida for graduate school. MA and PhD in 1991. Arrived at UW Madison after teaching for seven years at SUNY Binghamton.

Keywords: SUNY-Binghampton; Univeristy of Virginia; education

Partial Transcript: FH: So, what was UW-Madison like when you arrived?

Segment Synopsis: Coming from a small campus, arriving at UW Madison felt like being a "small fish in a large estuary." Hired in a position split 50/50% between Sociology and what was then the Women's Studies Program. There was a lot of excitement and support in the Program that helped her to navigate the University.

Keywords: Gender and Women's Studies; Sociology; Women's Studies

Partial Transcript: FH: So, you were an anthropologist by training, correct?

Segment Synopsis: Teaching Sociology and Gender and Women's Studies as an anthropologist was interesting and challenging. As a political economist working on gender and labor, topically she did not have to change at all. Challenges centered around learning the vocabularies of these disciplines

Keywords: Fernand Braudel; Fernand Braudel Center; gender; labor; political economy

Partial Transcript: FH: When did you leave the GWS, or, the program?

Segment Synopsis: One major transition was leaving Sociology for Community and Environmental Sociology in 2000, where she could continue to mentor the same cross-program graduate students, but which was centered on qualitative, ethnographic methods closer to Collins' own anthropological training and emphases.

Keywords: Community and Environmental Sociology; ethnography; field research

Partial Transcript: JC: In 2014, having chaired the Gender and Women's Studies department twice...

Segment Synopsis: In 2014, after chairing Gender and Women's Studies twice and juggling teaching, governance, and mentorship duties in two departments, Collins moved to Community and Environmental Sociology full time. Describes challenges facing social scientists working in the CALS field.

Keywords: Community and Environmental Sociology

Partial Transcript: FH: And so, how did the department change throughout...

Segment Synopsis: Changes in the name of the Department from "Rural Sociology"—a name selected in the 1800s as it suited the needs of the state (which has since become more urban and industrialized)—to "Community and Environmental Sociology." This significantly boosted enrollment due in large part to opportunities for the kinds of community service and engagement that students were eager for.

Keywords: Community and Environmental Sociology; Rural Sociology; UW-Extension

Partial Transcript: FH: Did the department have any political...

Segment Synopsis: Joke in the department reflecting the social justice focus of the department. Gender and racial diversity in the department. Diversity and recent successes in the Department, efforts to improve racial diversity.

Keywords: gender; racial diversity; social justice

Partial Transcript: FH: So, why study C&E Soc.?

Segment Synopsis: C&E Sociology majors go into nonprofit, policy, and planning careers. Others have gone on to start small businesses and work in government. The students attracted to the major tend to be motivated by a desire to work in these capacities, and to cultivate the tools to make positive impacts in the world.

Keywords: Community and Environmental Sociology

Partial Transcript: FH: Now, shifting over to your teaching career...

Segment Synopsis: Favorite classes to teach emphasize labor and commodity chains. Experience of teaching first-year students. Periods of a perceived misalignment in Gender and Women's studies teaching between her emphases and the motivations of different cohorts of students, especially between her focus on labor and students' interest in sexuality studies.

Keywords: commodity chains; introduction to community and environmental sociology; labor in global food systems

Partial Transcript: FH: So, what was your experience learning how to teach after graduate school?

Segment Synopsis: Learned to teach and had meaningful pedagogical insights while teaching at SUNY before coming to Madison. Teaching style evolved at UW through teaching smaller classes UW which have way over the years to larger, lecture-style courses which are more challenging to make interactive.

Keywords: teaching; teaching styles

Partial Transcript: FH: You mentioned that you also taught some graduate students.

Segment Synopsis: Differences between teaching graduate and undergraduate students. Supervised 42 PhD students over the years. Teaching primary advisees involves intense, 1-on-1 interaction that is both labor-intensive and rewarding. Discusses experience collaborating with graduate students.

Keywords: Both Hands Tied; PhD students; mentorship

Partial Transcript: FH: That's a great transition to research...

Segment Synopsis: Major research interests center on labor and the ways that globalization impacts working relationships and conditions in Latin America (Peru, Brazil, Mexico) and the U.S. Related research interest in what forms of labor are counted in economic calculations and discourses and how migration makes these more complex and how unwaged and waged labor support one another or not. Research has been funded by the NSF, the Interamerican Foundation, and the State of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

Keywords: Inter-American Foundation; National Science Foundation; housework; immigration; labor; social reproductive labor

Partial Transcript: JC: Well, I'll say first of all what led me to do research in Brazil...

Segment Synopsis: Research in Brazil came out of her earlier research in Peru. Led toward additional research projects in the U.S. and Mexico which spurred her book Threads, coinciding with renewed popular and political scrutiny around the apparel industry.

Keywords: Labor in Latin America; apparel; apparel production; child labor; labor

Partial Transcript: JC: The UW became involved through the collegiate...

Segment Synopsis: Development of University-branded apparel code of conduct. Involvement with UW's Collegiate Licensing Corporation which participated in a task force of 15 universities in late 1980s to address labor equity in production of university-branded apparel. Late 1990s interactions with David Ward (UW business professor and WI politician), Casey Nagy and University attorneys, and student groups around the issue of sweatshop labor.

Keywords: Apparel; Collegiate Licensing Corporation; Labor; Student Labor Action Committee; United Students Against Sweatshops; University Apparel; labor and gender; living wage

Partial Transcript: JC: Anyway, the code of conduct...

Segment Synopsis: UW-developed Code of Conduct became an effective and replicated model for similar codes elsewhere. Emphasized two aspects of the global apparel industry; its multi-locality/ international scope and the industry's fluidity and subcontracting structure. Success of student activists using UW-developed model to directly address worker's rights and labor violations.

Keywords: Fair Labor Association; United Students Against Sweatshops; Workers Rights Consortium; apparel; apparel production; labor; university apparel

Partial Transcript: JC: And then, in 2007, we kind of hit a snag.

Segment Synopsis: Despite many early successes pushing UW-licensed brands to address workplace and labor issues or risk de-licencing, in 2007 the Code faced a major challenge from Adidas, though in 2008 there was a major victory in Honduras. Attending meetings with Lydia Zapeta (SoHE) and members of the WI Justice Dept. Establishment of the concept of brand responsibility came out of these moments and experiences pioneered at UW.

Keywords: labor; licensed apparel; university apparel

Partial Transcript: JC: Another really important effect of this...

Segment Synopsis: Changing international geography of the apparel market and shifts in advocacy since the early 2000s.

Keywords: International Union League for Brand Responsibility; Student Labor Action Committee; United Students Against Sweatshops; Workers Rights Consortium; labor; labor and gender

Partial Transcript: FH: So what does that mean for the future...

Segment Synopsis: Importance of student activism, unions, and involvement despite the climate of Act 10. Describes the initiatives and successes of specific student and mobilized student cohorts.

Keywords: Student Labor Action Committee; United Students Against Sweatshops; Worker's Rights Consortium; campus activism; labor; student activism

Partial Transcript: Interviewer: So, how were you working with students...

Segment Synopsis: Describes forms of interaction with undergraduate and graduate students, as well as day-to-day roles and interactions with apparel licensing leaders on campus and factory workers.

Keywords: Student Labor Action Committee; United Students Against Sweatshops; campus activism; labor movement; student activism

Partial Transcript: Interviewer: You mentioned a little bit about media coverage...

Segment Synopsis: UW activism and labor campaigs coverage in local, state, and national media in the 2000s. Connections between the Wisconsin Idea and activism and teaching on campus.

Keywords: Wisconsin Idea

Partial Transcript: Interviewer: Are there any other notable stories...

Segment Synopsis: Act 10 protests and Occupy Wall Street, unique and bittersweet memories of student activism. Tensions between scholarship and activism seldom an issue on UW campus in Collins' experience.

Keywords: 2011 Wisconsin protests; Act 10 protests; Occupy Wall Street

Partial Transcript: Interviewer: So, shifting to your university service career...

Segment Synopsis: Reflections on faculty governance across multiple departments over many years. Significant expansion in responsibilities and requirements in terms of faculty governance leading to real tensions in service load for faculty serving in governance roles.

Keywords: governance; leadership; university

Partial Transcript: Interviewer: I wanted to wrap up with overall...

Segment Synopsis: Feelings of inspiration, possibility, and moments of optimism which resulted from successes in activism and solidarity.

Keywords: activism; solidarity

Partial Transcript: JC: Having said all those things, I do want to say...

Segment Synopsis: Worried about loss of public-sector unions for staff and graduate students, about several years of flat UW budgets, about pressure on the University by conservative lawmakers, reflective of broader trends at other state universities.

Keywords: budgets; graduate students; unions

Partial Transcript: Interviewer: So, what's next for you?

Segment Synopsis: Next steps and plans for retirement and conclusion of responsibilities and mentorship of students, legal advocacy on behalf of Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin, details on Milwaukee-based women's advocacy and research.

Keywords: Planned Parenthood Wisconsin