Originally published in The News-Star newspaper, April 30, 2006

Anniversaries are everywhere these days. The University of Louisiana at Monroe is in the midst of celebrating its 75th, and practically parallel are anniversaries of events that happened 50 years ago, when only 25 years of our life as a college had passed.

Fifty years ago, the class of '56 graduated, the School of Pharmacy was founded and a headline in the PowWow proclaimed "Northeast Accepts National Membership in Social Work Group." This acceptance as a constituent member of the Council on Social Work Education, which was and still is the national accrediting body for colleges and universities offering courses in social work, allowed our graduates to be fully prepared to enter any graduate school of social work to continue their education in the field.

Social work or "social welfare" as it was known then began at Northeast Louisiana State College with the establishment of a pre-professional curriculum in 1953. John Alfred Pritchett Jr. was a driving force behind the application for membership in CSWE and played an early role in establishing many of the activities in the pre-professional major.

In 1959, Pritchett had departed and NLSC hired Eris Ginn to work in special education. Ginn held a master's degree in social work and had already worked with youth offenders in New Orleans and families in Mississippi. It wasn't long before it was apparent that Dean William Hammond had plans for social work. He moved Ginn into that program, where he taught sociology and social work classes, and was asked to enlarge the program.

With the support of President George T. Walker, Ginn set about this task in earnest. In the early 1970s, CSWE began to accredit undergraduate social work degrees, and Ginn immediately set about gaining this accreditation.

With about 350 majors, a full teaching load and many other duties, Ginn nevertheless tackled the task with fervor. He traveled to a number of different universities, filled out volumes of paperwork, met with CSWE officials and coordinated site visits.

All of this hard work paid off in 1976 when NLU was awarded accreditation for its undergraduate program. By the way, NLU and Southern University were the first colleges in Louisiana to receive accreditation for the undergraduate social work degree.

Thus, social work can celebrate three anniversaries - 53 years since establishment of a major, 50 years since recognition by the national accrediting body and 30 years as the first accredited undergraduate program in Louisiana.

As I have stated previously, one of the most exciting and rewarding things for all of us as we learn about ULM's history is the opportunity to talk with "those who were there then." If you would like to hear more about the founding of the social work program from its "Father," drop by the WigWam some morning and talk with Ginn over coffee - and take the opportunity to speak directly to one of the "giants" of our great university.

Have a great day at ULM.

Dr. John Knesel, ULM Professor