{"id":3955,"date":"2020-02-13T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T14:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/?p=3955"},"modified":"2020-04-03T10:51:16","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T14:51:16","slug":"dr-jesse-j-harris-first-african-american-dean-of-the-school-of-social-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/?p=3955","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Jesse J. Harris, First African American Dean of the School of Social Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Health Sciences and Human Services Library Historical Collections\u2019 strives to provide broad access to our diverse collections both in person and digitally. Materials in our collections appear as they originally were published or created and may contain offensive or inappropriate language or images and may be offensive to users. The University of Maryland, Baltimore does not endorse the views expressed in these materials. Materials should be viewed in the context within they were created.<\/em><\/sup><\/p>\n

The School of Social Work at the University of Maryland opened in 1961, after the integration struggles at the University of Maryland, Baltimore during the 1940s and 1950s.\u00a0 Thus the early classes at the school included African American students.\u00a0 The school, according to the 2011 Turning Points<\/em> publication, started with a commitment to racial equality.<\/p>\n

\"Photograph<\/a>

Dr. Jesse J. Harris, dean emeritus of the School of Social Work, photograph from Turning Points, the 2011 history of the School of Social Work<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Jesse J. Harris graduated from the School of Social Work with a master\u2019s degree in 1971 and again with a PhD in 1976.\u00a0\u00a0 Following graduation he continued his military career in the Army serving as chief of social workers for the Army Surgeon General, consultant to the U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique, and finally as chief of Social Work Services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.\u00a0 He retired from the Army in June 1990 as the Army\u2019s highest ranking social worker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following his Army retirement, Dr. Harris joined the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Social Work.\u00a0 He was soon named acting dean and then dean in October 1991.\u00a0 Soon after being named dean, Dr. Harris created the Social Work Community Outreach Service (SWCOS).\u00a0 Through the organization the school supported the local Baltimore community by providing free social work services for residents; in reflecting on the success of the program in the 2008 Connections <\/em>magazine, Harris said it was to be \u201ca symbol of the School in the community.\u201d\u00a0 In addition to the benefits for the community, the SWCOS provided social work students with hands-on experience and faculty with a research site.\u00a0 Through the organization new models of social work practice were developed.\u00a0 It was the first organization of its kind and provided a model for other social work schools to implement similar programs.<\/p>\n

In addition to the success of SWCOS, Harris increased research funding for the school.\u00a0 He developed innovative curriculum programs and outreach services, including a study abroad program with Rajagiri College of Social Sciences at Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, India.\u00a0 By 2004, the school was ranked number 19 in the US News and World Report rankings\u2014the youngest school to ever achieve ranking within the top 20.\u00a0 Dr. Harris stepped down as Dean in 2006 but remained at the school as a professor until retiring in 2016.<\/p>\n

In addition to his MSW and PhD from the University of Maryland, Dr. Harris has a master\u2019s degree in psychology from Howard University and a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology from Morgan State University.\u00a0 His research interests are the history of Army social work and the stress experienced by peace keeping forces.\u00a0 Dr. Harris is an American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare Fellow and has received several awards for his work, including the Benemerenti Medal from the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore for his social work service.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

References:<\/sub><\/p>\n

\u201cHarris Named Dean of Social Work.\u201d (1991) Voice<\/em>. 9(3): 1, 3. Retrieved from: http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/10713\/10323<\/a><\/sub><\/p>\n

\u201cJesse J. Harris, PhD (emeritus).\u201d (2020). American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare Fellows website. Retrieved from: https:\/\/aaswsw.org\/member\/jesse-j-harris-phd\/<\/a><\/sub><\/p>\n

Scalia, R. (2008). \u201c\u2019Bold Experiment\u2019 Continues to Serve Students and Communities After 15 Years.\u2019 Connections<\/em>. Retrieved from: http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/10713\/755<\/a><\/sub><\/p>\n

Turning Points: Celebrating five Decades at the University of Maryland School of Social Work.<\/em> (2011). Retrieved from: http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/10713\/633<\/a><\/sub><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Jesse J. Harris graduated from the School of Social Work with a master\u2019s degree in 1971 and again with a PhD in 1976.\u00a0\u00a0 Following graduation he continued his military career in the Army serving as chief of social workers for the Army Surgeon General, consultant to the U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique, and finally as chief of Social Work Services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.\u00a0 He retired from the Army in June 1990 as the Army\u2019s highest ranking social worker.\u00a0 Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,14],"tags":[200,197],"class_list":["post-3955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-collections","category-sw","tag-black-history-month","tag-umbssw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3955"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3958,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955\/revisions\/3958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}