The Jack Quarter Lectureship on the Social Economy is in memory of the late Professor Jack Quarter, who passed away in early 2019 as full professor in the Adult Education and Community Development program, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). For over 50 years – almost all of them at OISE/UT – Jack was a friend and colleague to many in the fields of adult education, community development, and the social economy. A renowned researcher, prolific writer, and much-loved teacher, Jack mentored hundreds if not thousands of Canadians and others from around the world studying or involved in the social and solidarity economy.
Jack helped co-found the Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation (CWCF), the Association for Nonprofit and Social Economy Research (ANSER), where he served as president, and the Canadian Journal for Nonprofit and Social Economy Research (CJNSER). Jack was also a long-time member and former president of the Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operation (CASC), and was one of the research leads of the cross-Canada, multi-year and multi-site Social Economy Hub initiative, which helped conceptualize and map the social economy in Canada. He wrote or co-wrote dozens of books and articles on the social economy, workplace and economic democracy, and labour issues, including co-authoring the much-read Understanding the Social Economy: A Canadian Perspective (2009, 2018, University of Toronto Press, 1st and 2nd editions) and Understanding the Social Economy of the United States (2015, University of Toronto).
The Jack Quarter Lectureship on the Social Economy is cared for and organized by the Centre for Learning, Social Economy & Work (CLSEW), which Jack co-founded, and is generously made possible by a donation from another renowned scholar of Canada’s co-operatives and the social economy, Emeritus Professor George Melnyk.
For more on Jack’s life and writing, see: www.jackquarter.org
Lectureships
