Barbara Ehrenreich, who served as the 1997 Wayne Morse Chair, passed away on September 1, 2022. Ehrenreich is best known for her memoir Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (2001), about trying to live on minimum wage jobs, but is also appreciated her steady stream of prescient essays and commentary. She is the author of 21 more books. 

During Ehrenreich's twelve-day stay in Eugene, she drew thousands to her talks where she discussed welfare reform, the end of the social contract, and media sensationalism.

"Barbara enthralled Oregonians when she held the Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics in 1997," said Margaret Hallock, who was director of the Wayne Morse Center at the time. "Her clear-eyed and critical analysis of US poverty and labor policy are essential to a complete understanding of our social and economic history."