Thaddeus H. Spratlen (1930 - May 18, 2021) was an American economist who was Professor Emeritus at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Foster School of Business The Michael G. Foster School of Business is the business school at the University of Washington in Seattle. It was founded in 1917. The school has more than 50,000 alumni, and is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Bus ...

. He was the first African American faculty member at Western Washington State College (now

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

) and the Foster School of Business, and was among the founders of the

National Economic Association The National Economic Association (NEA) is a learned society established in 1969, focused on initiatives in the field of economics. The purposes of the Association are "to promote the professional lives of minorities within the profession. In a ...

Education and early life

Born in 1930 in

Union City, Tennessee Union City is located in Obion County, Tennessee, United States. The 2020 census reported the population of the town as 11,170. It is the principal urban settlement of the surrounding micropolitan area, which includes Obion County and Fulton Count ...

, Spratlen was sent north to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

by his family for greater educational opportunities available to African-Americans there. He graduated from

Central High School (Cleveland, Ohio) Central High School was a public high school in the Central neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1846 and merged with East Tech in 1952. It had several locations during its existence. The school served white and African Ameri ...

and began his college studies at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

. However, economic constraints after the death of his father led him to enroll in the U.S. Army, where he served as an artillery officer in the Korean War. He used the educational benefits available to him as a veteran to continue his education, earning several degrees from the Ohio State University.

Career

Spratlen was offered a position at Western Washington State College in 1962, when the head of the search committee removed the photos of the finalists from their application materials. AFter eight years at that university and three years teaching at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, he joined the University of Washington in 1972, and remained at that university for the remainder of his career. At the University of Washington, he was known for building relationships between the business school and local minority-owned businesses in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, and for his mentorship of African American business students.

Selected works

* Spratlen, Thaddeus H. "Ghetto economic development: Content and character of the literature." The Review of Black Political Economy 1, no. 4 (1971): 43–71. * Spratlen, Thaddeus H. "The Bakke decision: Implications for black educational and professional opportunities." The Journal of Negro Education 48, no. 4 (1979): 449-45 * Spratlen, Thaddeus H. "Targeting vulnerable segments in cigarette advertising: Ethical criteria and public policy implications." In Proceedings of the 1993 of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference, pp. 446–450. Springer, Cham, 2015. * Spratlen, Thaddeus H. "Affluent blacks as travelers and tourists: group characteristics and targeted advertising themes." In Tourism services marketing: advances in theory and practice. Special conference series, volume II, 1986, pp. 238–248. Academy of Marketing Science, University of Miami, 1986. * Spratlen, Thaddeus H. "The record and rhetoric of black economic progress." The Review of Black Political Economy 4, no. 3 (1974): 1-30.

References

1930 births 2021 deaths American economists African-American economists Western Washington University faculty UCLA Anderson School of Management faculty University of Washington faculty People from Union City, Tennessee {{US-economist-stub