The American Folklife Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Jessica Looman, Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), to the American Folklife Center Board of Trustees. President Biden appointed Looman for a term expiring June 1, 2030.
Under the authority of the legislation that established the American Folklife Center in 1976, the President can appoint four members of the Board of Trustees and the majority and minority leaders of the Senate can each appoint two members. The remaining members are appointed by the Librarian of Congress and the majority and minority leaders in the House of Representatives.
Looman had previously served as the Principal Deputy Administrator of WHD since Wednesday, January 20, 2021. WHD enforces worker protections and provides outreach and education about federal labor laws including minimum wage, overtime, child labor, and family and medical leave.
Before joining WHD, Jessica served as the Executive Director of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council, where she advocated to expand construction career pathways, protected the physical and financial health of union construction workers, and increased private and public investment in construction infrastructure.
Before joining the Building Trades, Jessica was appointed by Governor Mark Dayton to serve as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce. She also served as the Deputy Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry where she oversaw the strategic coordination of DLI’s five divisions. She has previously served as the General Counsel of the Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota. Looman is a graduate of George Washington University and the University of Minnesota Law School.
The American Folklife Center (AFC) holds significant collections related to occupational folklife and labor history from several generations of documentary fieldworkers. These collections enable contemporary research on work and community life and critically analyze emerging issues that confront labor scholars, advocates and community members in a rapidly changing world.
The Center also awards Archie Green Fellowships to support the study of occupational folklife. Green, whose seminal investigations into the expressive cultural traditions of working communities — miners, tinsmiths, textile workers, railroad workers, coal miners, and cowboys — influenced a generation of scholarship on occupational culture and working life.