From St. Thomas Magazine - Fall 2008
It’s understandable and somewhat expected that after 30 years in the same organization, one might settle into a routine. Not so for Barbara Shank, dean of the School of SocialWork. “I love my job!” she exclaimed as she prepared for a speaking engagement and an archaeological dig in Croatia. “What could be better than working with interesting, brilliant students, faculty and staff, discussing issues you’re passionate about and watching students become passionate about social work?”
Her interests are eclectic, her dedication and enthusiasm are apparent and her energy is contagious. She started her career as a teacher of recently released prisoners and then worked as a family court officer for Ramsey County Corrections. Shank joined St. Thomas in 1980 after spending two years at the College of St. Catherine as an assistant professor. Within four years she became the department chair and was promoted to dean in 1995.
Over the years she’s been given the support necessary to develop many new initiatives. “The vision of our school is to become a premier Catholic school of social work offering outstanding bachelor, master and doctoral programs while maintaining close connections to the practice community,” she said.
Due to Shank’s hard work and that of her faculty and staff, the School of SocialWork has an outstanding reputation for educating culturally competent professionals. “We’ve become a national leader in ‘teaching justice,’ including the development of SocialWork for Social Justice: Ten Principles. It’s about teaching [according] to mission and building on the strengths of Catholic colleges and universities,” she explained. Creighton Medical School is using the Ten Principles as a model to develop curriculum for doctors.
The School of SocialWork, a joint program with the College of St. Catherine, has experienced significant growth in the 18 years since the master’s degree program was started. With growth comes new challenges. “We offer one of only two clinical master’s programs in an eight-state region,” according to Shank. “Our challenge now is finding qualified faculty who can teach our curriculum.”
The fact that the School of SocialWork can benefit from multiple priorities within the capital campaign provides a great deal of hope for the future. The aim is to raise money for a deanship and strategic funds, as well as for faculty positions and financial aid.” The funds will allow the school to increase access, deliver programs of unquestionable excellence and attract faculty of superior talent who are committed to service and justice.”
To generate capital-campaign support among her faculty and staff, Shank initiated “Go for the Gold: Campaign for the School of SocialWork.” She knew that the first step in any successful campaign is strong participation by faculty
and staff. “Our faculty and staff took that challenge seriously and we achieved 100-percent participation this year.”
Earning a master’s degree is an expensive proposition. According to Shank, St. Thomas needs to catch up to other schools of social work in its ability to offer financial aid. Peer institutions offer teaching assistantships, stipends, grants and scholarships, in addition to lower tuition. Having more resources to offset some of the financial burden for St. Thomas students will be significant.” Currently, many students have to decide where to go based on graduating with the least amount of debt possible. If we had more scholarship money to offer, we could make a student’s decision to come to St. Thomas easier,” Shank said.