Hamilton Gazetteer / Entities / Derek C. Jones

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person

Derek C. Jones

Overview

Derek C. Jones is a British-born economist who joined the Hamilton College Economics Department in 1972 and became one of its most enduring faculty members, eventually holding the named Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professorship of Economics. Trained at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (B.A.), the London School of Economics (M.Sc.), and Cornell University (Ph.D.), he is a specialist in labor economics, workers’ participation in management, and producer cooperatives. He appears continuously in Hamilton course catalogs from the mid-1970s through at least 2024–25, making him among the longest-serving faculty members documented in the corpus.

Relevance to Research

Jones is documented in the Spectator from 1974 through 1979 and in course catalogs from 2015–16 through 2024–25 (and by faculty hire-year notation — “1972” — in catalogs from 2020–21 onward). His early Spectator coverage is particularly rich: he served as acting chair of the Economics Department almost immediately after joining, navigated a period of severe faculty turnover, and engaged publicly and substantively with debates about curriculum, scholarship, and the size of the department. He received tenure in spring 1978 in a decision that required Board of Trustees approval due to his simultaneous promotion to Associate Professor.

Notes

Role: Assistant Professor of Economics (1972); acting Economics Department chairman (1975–76); Associate Professor with tenure (1978); eventually the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics
Hamilton connection: Faculty member from 1972; still listed in 2024–25 catalog
Education: B.A., University of Newcastle Upon Tyne; M.Sc., London School of Economics; Ph.D., Cornell University
Key events: - Fall 1972: Appointed Assistant Professor of Economics alongside Robert Allen; one of three new department hires in 1972–74 as the department rebuilt after significant turnover (spec-1974-10-04) - October 1974: Named in Spectator article on the Economics Department’s high turnover; described as one of the department’s four members with only chairman Sidney Wertimer holding tenure (spec-1974-10-04) - October 1975: Serving as acting Economics chairman; publicly discusses the department’s commitment to exposing students to a range of economic theories, from Keynesian to Marxist to Neo-classical approaches (spec-1975-10-10) - November 1975: As acting chairman, declines to comment on a petition for additional faculty but states he hopes the department will expand (spec-1975-11-07) - March 1976: The Spectator reports Jones will take a year-long Margaret Bundy Scott Fellowship to the University of Warwick in England, where he will conduct empirical research on long-established producer cooperatives and work with the Industrial Relations Research Unit; his microeconomics course is assumed by Donald Mead in his absence (spec-1976-03-12, spec-1976-04-30) - November 1977: The Student Tenure Committee invites students who have taken Jones’s courses to provide input on his tenure candidacy (spec-1977-11-11) - March 1978: The Board of Trustees grants Jones tenure and promotes him to Associate Professor of Economics; the decision required special Board approval because promotion and tenure were awarded simultaneously (spec-1978-03-17) - October 1978: Quoted as Economics Department chairman on the large enrollment in introductory macroeconomics, describing overflow crowds in KJ auditorium as a “fire hazard” (spec-1978-10-08) - November 1978: Discusses the relationship between scholarship and teaching; notes that his research on workers’ participation in management feeds directly into his classroom lectures (spec-1978-11-17) - January 1979: Named as a member of the presidential search committee, elected by faculty vote (spec-1979-01-TheMagazine) - 2015–16 onward: Listed in course catalogs as the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics, with credentials listed as B.A. Newcastle Upon Tyne, M.Sc. London School of Economics, Ph.D. Cornell University (yhm-arc-pub-cat-2015-16 et seq.) - Fall 2019: Listed in catalog as “away fall 2019, New York City Program” (yhm-arc-pub-cat-2019-20) - Fall 2022: Listed as “away fall 2022, New York City Program” (yhm-arc-pub-cat-2022-23)

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