Richard Locke, the Class of 1922 Professor of Political Science and Management is the Head of the MIT Political Science Department.
Locke's current research is focused on improving labor and environmental conditions in global supply chains. Working with leading firms like Nike, Coca Cola, and HP, Locke and his students have been showing how corporate profitability and sustainable business practices can be reconciled. Locke has published 3 books: Working in America with Paul Osterman, Thomas Kochan, and Michael Piore, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press (2001), Employment Relations in a Changing World Economy with Thomas Kochan, Michael Piore, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press (1995), and Remaking the Italian Economy, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press (1995) as well as numerous articles on economic development, labor relations, and corporate responsibility. He is currently working on a new book, Justice Beyond Compliance, based upon his labor standards in global supply chains research.
Locke, along with MIT Sloan colleagues, spearheaded the development of the Laboratory for Sustainable Business (S-Lab), a course seeking to provide students with in-depth knowledge of the various sustainability issues society faces today. Locke also pioneered the popular Global Entrepreneurship Laboratory, a course that teaches students about entrepreneurship in developing countries by placing them in internships with startups in an array of companies in various emerging markets. As a result of this work, Locke was named a 2005 Faculty Pioneer in Academic Leadership by The Aspen Institute, awarded the MIT Class of 1960 Teaching Innovation Award in 2007 and the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching in June 2008.