Section C · Page 16
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, August 16, 1999
KU dean devotes life to social work
Weak, poor need more attention care from society
By Jessica Dawes
Kansan staff writer
Ann Weick knew that she was cut out for a career in the socialwork field at an early age.
"I knew social workers growing up, and they were very inspiring to me," said Weick, Dean of the School of Social Welfare.
A native of Portland, Ore., Weick was certain that she wanted to be a social worker after her sophomore year at the University of Oregon, when she was a student intern at a rural public welfare office.
She earned her master's in social welfare from the University of California-Berkeley and a doctorate in social policy and planning from Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.
Weick is a busy person. As the dean of one of the top social welfare schools in the country, her duties are not limited to overseeing and supporting the educational process for students. Besides developing new programs for the school, Weick also feels that it is important to develop and maintain a strong relationship with the community.
Ann Weick guides the School of Social Welfare so that graduates in social works will be ready to work with needs of a changing society. Photo by Joseph Griffin/KANSAN
"Dean Weick has been instrumental in Lawrence in providing a forum for different groups in the community to talk to each other," said Jean Peterson, associate professor. "Her approach is getting people to talk, understand and appreciate one another."
And Weick does understand people.
"We must find the strengths that people have that will lead them out of problems." Weick said.
This theory led Weick and her colleagues to formally introduce the strengths perspective at the
School of Social Welfare more than 15 years ago.
Originally, the strengths perspective was applied to those with severe and persistent mental illness, but has been applied to every aspect of social work since.
"We developed the strengths perspective because sometimes social workers get so caught up in looking at human problems, and when you focus too much on a problem, you miss the solutions," Weick said.
Reaching far beyond the KU community, the strengths perspective is recognized nationally and at other universities.
"The strengths perspective has resulted in KU having a unique niche and way we're thought about," said Peterson.
The strengths perspective is a valuable tool for social workers in the professional community as well.
"Even when people are very sick, I still try to get them to focus on their strengths and see what their life has meant," said Ann Kirkpatrick, a hospice social worker who received her master's in social welfare from KU in 1997. Interaction with students is important to Weick.
Norella Munoz, Topeka senior in social welfare, met Weick for the first time at a "Students Concerned About Retaining Ethics" meeting and remembers Weick greeting and talking with the students who hadn't attended before.
"She made an effort to learn names and get to know a little bit about each person and their interests," said Munoz. "To this day, she calls me by my name when she sees me."
In addition to concentrating on students, she looks for solutions to social problems that she feels are in need of immediate attention.
But Weick admits that there is enough competition for the most pressing issues in social work.
"It is important to be concerned
"Dean Weick has been instrumental in Lawrence in providing a forum for different groups in the community to talk to each other. Her approach is getting people to talk, understand and appreciate one another."
Jean Peterson associate professor of social welfare
about the most vulnerable people in our society," said Weick. "We need to focus on the very poor, those with persistent mental illness, the elderly and children."
Social work is a constantly evolving field that has continued to fascinate and challenge Weick throughout her career.
"Social workers are prepared to work with a wide variety of areas of human need, said Weick. "We have a leading-edge profession and must deal with new areas of need as they emerge."
- Edited by Anjum Aziz
By Lesley Simmons
Kansan staff writer
'Agent of peace' handles conflict constructively
Robert Shelton is the "agent of peace," or ombudsman, for the University of Kansas. His job is to attempt to ensure that staff, students and faculty members receive fair treatment from the University.
Shelton works in a small office in Smith Hall that remains austere even though it is decorated with mementos. Over his window it a prism, a gift from a former student. On his walls he has a paper cutting he got in China and a painting he received from an Israeli woman who visited his classes to speak about non-violence. He also keeps a rubbing made by his wife, and a carving of two pine trees his nephew made to remind him of their camping trips in Colorado.
Kellie Harmon, assistant to the ambudman, has worked with Shelton for six years. He likes knowing he provides a neutral, confidential place for faculty, staff and students, she said.
Shelton's job allows him to work outside the usual administrative procedures, solving problems that the University's normal administrative practices cannot resolve. Shelton, a professor of religious studies for the past 32 years, became bumdusman 14 years ago.
He came to Lawrence to teach at the Kansas School of Religion before it became the University's religious studies department and served as the new department's first chairman. Shelton said that his work as department chairman prepared him to be ombudsman.
"The department chair has a minimum amount of power to make people do things," he said. "I helped people work together."
When people come to see Shelton now, he does not have administrative power to make things happen.
Instead, he mediates between conflicting parties as an impartial agent for anyone who has trouble following the University's normal grievance procedures.
"Anyone can turn to my office," Shelton said. "I can approach anyone it is reasonable to approach."
Shelton is the only university
ombudman in Kansas, but
Wichita State University has a
similar program for students.
The ombudsman's office sees about 400 people a year — 85 percent of them students. Some people only need information or a referral to an administrative office. For more complex problems, Shelton may spend months acting as a neutral mediator. "It takes up almost all of my time." Shelton said.
He still makes time to teach one class a semester. In the spring he plans to teach the class "Human Conflict and Peace," a course he said grew out of his work as ambudman.
His studies have also taken him to China. In 1978, China had just begun to open up and allowed American farmers to visit. One of Shelton's former students organized a Kansas farmer's tour, and Shelton went along. The group, which included farmers, medical personnel and educators, stayed in both cities and villages.
Many of the skills that Shelton uses in his job today were learned through his experiences traveling. In 1960, he and three classmates drove from Geneva to Switzerland in a Volkswagon bug. The trip lasted more than three months. "We stayed in caves, people's homes, sometimes hotels," Shelton said. "That was my first experience seeing how different people lived." That lesson in understanding is still with Shelton as he serves as the "agent of peace" for everyone at the University.
- Edited by Anjum Aziz
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