UNO Flags to Be Lowered for Hubert Locke

University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) flags will be lowered on Wednesday, June 6, to honor the life of Rev. Hubert Locke, M.A., an instrumental figure in the university’s history as a professor, scholar and the founding dean of UNO’s College of Public Affairs and Community Service.

Locke, who passed away on Saturday, June 2, served as CPACS dean after helping establish the college and as an associate professor of urban studies from 1972 to 1976. Following his tenure at UNO, Locke joined the University of Washington, where he served as a professor of public affairs, associate dean, vice provost for academic affairs and a dean.

“Hubert Locke was the George Washington of CPACS,” says John Bartle, current dean of CPACS. “He truly was a gentleman and a scholar, as well as a persistent advocate for progressive social change. There are few in history like him. He will be dearly missed.”

A native of Detroit, Michigan, and alumnus of Wayne State University, Locke’s connections to UNO and Nebraska go well beyond his tenure as dean.

In 1970, while a faculty member at Wayne State University, Locke helped author a University of Nebraska Board of Regents-commissioned study to identify and develop educational programs at UNO targeted to meet metropolitan-area needs. One program that Locke was instrumental in helping establish when he came to UNO was the Goodrich Scholarship Program, which helps provide funding support to students who otherwise could not afford to attend college. Since the program was founded in 1972, nearly 2,000 students have completed their degrees through the program.

In 2006 Hubert Locke (third from left) joined BJ Reed (far left), who was then UNO CPACS dean and is currently Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and alongside other former CPACS deans John Kerrigan (second from left) and David Hinton (far right), at a groundbreaking event for the new CPACS building. Previously, each unit within CPACS existed in separate buildings across campus.

Locke stayed committed to UNO after moving to Seattle, providing advice to other CPACS deans who filled the role. He was awarded with a Doctorate of Humane Letters from UNO in 1992. A decade later, in 2002, CPACS established the “Hubert Locke Award,” which recognizes an individual who has exhibited exemplary public service and professional activities; it is the highest recognition awarded by the college each year.

In addition to his work at UNO and the University of Washington, Locke was regularly involved in scholarship events organized by the United States Holocaust Museum and wrote a number of essays on crime, justice and ethics that appeared in the New York Times and Seattle Times. He is also the author of more than a dozen books, including the highly-acclaimed book on the Detroit riots of 1967.

A retrospective on Locke’s life was recently published on Monday, June 4, by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Contributions in Locke's honor can be made to the Goodrich Scholarship Program Excellence Fund through the University of Nebraska Foundation.