He served as the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs director of Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska, where he is now an emeritus professor.
[2] In 1979 Edwards published the book Contested Terrain: The Transformation of the Workplace in the Twentieth Century, which emerged from his dissertation research.
In a review of the book published in the journal Organizational Studies, the work was described as "a contribution to understanding the social relations of production in their own right.
"[3] Another review published in Social Science Quarterly wrote that the book offered "a salient explanation of the evolution of management and job structures over the last 150 years.
[5] He then moved to the University of Nebraska to become the school's Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, as well as serve as a professor of economics.