Joseph E. Hight ’71 PhD

Joseph E. Hight ’71 PhD, of Springfield, Va.; Feb. 12, of ocular melanoma. He taught the principles of economics course for a year at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., and for four years he taught labor economics and money and banking at the University of Hawaii. In 1973, he was an economic policy fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C. That led to a position as an economist in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy, where he spent a 25-year career working on program evaluation and policy development. He worked on unemployment compensation, trade adjustment assistance for trade impacted workers, job training programs for unemployed and displaced workers, employment and unemployment compensation, and social security. From 1978 to 1979, he was a staff economist for the National Commission on Employment and Unemployment Statistics, specializing in state and local area employment statistics. For a short time he was adviser to Secretary of Labor Robert Reich in the Secretary of Labor’s role as a trustee on the Social Security Board of Trustees. For 10 years he taught economics to master’s degree students as an adjunct associate professor at George Washington University. He served in the Rhode Island Air National Guard and enjoyed reading, freelance writing, and playing tennis. Phi Beta Kappa. He is survived by his wife, Adele; a son; a sister; two brothers; and nieces and nephews.