William Ellison Chalmers
1903-1982
Graduate Student in Economics
Chalmers was a UW Credit Union Director and was a signer of the charter that established the credit union.
Chalmers was a man deeply concerned with civil rights and the working poor. His scholarly work was focused toward helping industrial workers and their employers co-exist for the benefit of both. The son of a Baptist minister and the son-in-law of fourth generation Baptist missionaries, Chalmers had a missionary zeal toward the issues of the day that mattered to him. While an accomplished scholar, he was often an observer willing to get his hands dirty laboring alongside industrial workers and sometimes even marching with them. These characteristics seemed to endear him to John R. Commons and other senior members of the faculty.
Chalmers completed a bachelor's degree at Brown University in 1925. After being accepted to the University of Wisconsin, he delayed his graduate studies until 1927 to pursue practical field experiences working as a laborer in a number of positions in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and Colorado. The delay in his studies was encouraged by Professor Commons.
His initial stay in Madison was brief, leaving in 1928 to work as an instructor in the Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh. There he became involved in labor issues and associated with the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped bring justice to the family of a killed mine striker and ultimately contributed to the abolishment of the coal and iron industry's private police force. Due to his association with the ACLU, he faced pressures to leave the University of Pittsburgh, but continued on there until 1930.
By July 1930, Chalmers was back at the University of Wisconsin as a research assistant. His work contributed significantly to consumer finance research and the credit union legislation developed by Professor Commons and Assemblyman Groves. Chalmers was awarded his Ph.D. in Economics in 1933. Following the completion of his Ph.D., Chalmers went on to a distinguished career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, eventually becoming Director of the Institute of Labor Relations. His service to government, the labor movement and civil rights movement was extensive.