IU School of Social Work celebrates 100th anniversary

From one person, a desk and a telephone to 8,600 living graduates, 1,290 current students and 70 full-time faculty members on eight campuses, the IU School of Social Work has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1911.

Now, 100 years after its creation, the School of Social Work is the oldest of its kind continuously affiliated with a university in the United States. Many others founded in the early 1900s were begun as training programs associated with nonprofit agencies, said Katharine Byers, Bloomington bachelors of social work program director.

“I think the sustainability of the school shows just how much there are still people who are willing to make $30,000 a year in order for other people to live the best life they can, to put others first,” said Stacy Chattin, a senior and social work major focusing on child welfare services.

The school will sponsor a series of centennial events Saturday through Monday in conjunction with its theme of “Celebrating 100 Years of Giving Hope and Changing
Lives.”

Celebrations began in early 2011 with various programs across the eight IU campuses.
This month’s events begin with an alumni tour of the Bloomington campus and culminate in a conference called “Continuing Education: The Past, Present, and Future of Social Work” and a gala dinner in downtown Indianapolis.

The dinner will be led by keynote speaker James Morris, a former executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme.

Chattin said she plans to drive to Indianapolis on Monday for the day’s festivities.
”It’ll be fun because I’ll be surrounded with people (who are) all passionate about what we do,” she said.

According to a press release, the School of Social Work was founded in 1911 by Edna Henry, well-known social worker and founder of the Associated Charities of Anderson, Ind., and Ulysses Grant Weatherly, an IU sociology professor. The two embarked on a venture to merge the Department of Economics and Social Sciences with the newly established Department of Social Service, an affiliate of the City Dispensary of the School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

Weatherly aimed to develop the area he called “applied sociology,” a result of the growing field of social work at that time. A program was created in which students were instructed in sociological methods and theories in Bloomington and could then gain practical experience at the department in Indianapolis.

The aftermath of the 1913 flood in Indianapolis and of World War II 30 years later kept the need for professional social workers alive and growing throughout the decades, according to a press release about the School of Social Work’s history.

As the curriculum evolved, the school’s label changed.

The training course for social work model continued until 1936, when the program was limited to graduate study. In 1945, the graduate program branched out separately into the Division of Social Service, later the School of Social Service.

On the Bloomington campus that year, the undergraduate social work program was reestablished in the College of Arts and Sciences. However, as a small program the department continued, until the 1970s, to send about 20 students each year to Indianapolis to complete their final practicum, the release said. 

As the school grew in prominence, its mission became more focused. With a clearer definition of its values and objectives, the School of Social Service was renamed the School of Social Work in 1977.

The school now has a budget of more than $7 million — compared to $800 when it was founded 100 years ago — and offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees, as well as minors and certificates on all IU campuses.

The master of social work is still not offered on the Bloomington campus — the two degrees available are the bachelor of social work degree and the social welfare advocacy minor.

The Bloomington campus houses just less than half of the total 300 social work undergraduates at IU, 47 of which will graduate this spring.

In May 2004, the program graduated its first class, made up of 30 students, on the Bloomington campus.

In the 2005-06 academic year, the School of Social Work marked a milestone as enrollment topped 1,000 students for the first time.

Jason Carnes, a 2005 graduate, stayed in Bloomington after graduation and became immersed in social work in the political arena. This is his fifth week as the Monroe County Commissioners’ Administrator.

“The county government is there to help people make sure that everything they need, from infrastructure to services, is in place,” Carnes said. “Working on the government level, you’re creating programs, ordinances and laws on a global level. And having that social work reference, that frame of mind, helps you to see things from the person’s perspective.”

Chattin, Carnes and alumna Lauren Hall from the Bloomington campus talked about the sense of belonging due to a close-knit community in the school. They said social work professors — deeply experienced, well-trained and knowledgeable — were vital in their understanding of and preparation for the real world. 

“My Introduction to Social Work (class) with Carlene Quinn (encouraged) me to go into social work,” said Hall, who earned her bachelors of social work in 2010. “I had been a Fine Arts major because I wanted to become an art therapist. And then I took a social work class, and they got me.”

Hall works as an independent living coach with local, nonprofit organization Stepping Stones, which was founded by fellow social work alumna Sheri Benham.

“It’s such a small program, and you end up getting to know everyone in it,” Hall said. “You end up feeling like this little family, like social work comrades.”

Byers said she agrees with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ prediction that the need for social workers will continue to grow.

She believes that the aging of baby boomers, especially in the next 10 years, and a heightened interest in child welfare will call for increased need in health care services.

Allowances must also be made as people become more comfortable in seeking help for mental and addiction problems, Byers said.

“Our graduates have started new agencies to meet emergent needs. They speak out on important social justice issues,” Byers said in an email. “In our small and indirect way, we are making a difference in the quality of life for many people. I think that tradition will continue into the future.”