VCU magazine (1992-03)

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MARCH/APRIL 1992 VOLUME 20, NUMBER 4
A PUBLICATION FOR ALUMNI OF THE ACADEMIC AND MEDICAL COLLEGE OF VIRGINIA CAMPUSES OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
Public-Spirited Alumni
THE SCH-OOL OF SOCIAL WORK AND THE SCHOOL OF COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
by C nlhia McMullen '89
The School of Social Work and [he
School of ConUllunity and Public Affairs
tf3in student.;; for a vmiery of careers,
which more often than not include
employment or contact with some
branch of the govenunenr. And the
governmentally oliented graduates they
have produced appear happy with their
career choices, even in these clays of
economic difficulty. Funds to help them
selve their fellow citizens are tighter
than ever, the paperwork never seems
to end, and salaries run almost 13
percent behind those of their plivate
sector countelparts. Why, then, do they
choose careers in govel11Jl1ent?
''It can get in your blood," explains
Wilda Ferguson 73 MSIV Befo re
joining Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Virginia as director of community
services in 1989, she served as
comnllssioner for the state Department
for the Aging, as adjunct faculty at VCU
in gerontology, and as city manager for
Manassas Park. Although she is now in
a private industlY job, she is still
wQrking with public providers. "There
are advantages to working in govern­ment
positions. I think Virginia has a
very good relationship between dle
public and private sectors, specifically in
health care services. Part of d,e struggle
is finding how we can best complement
one another."
V. Wayne Orton 71 MSW'has
served as city manager for POltsmouth
nearly two years now. Since 1980 he
has also worked as Portsmouth's direc­tor
of social services, human services,
and emergency services and communi­cation;
assistant city manager; acting
police chief; and museum director.
"I always wanted to be an executive
for a Fortune 500 company," says
Orton. After working as a counselor for
Peninsula Family Services and Travelers
'Aid and as assistant director for a drug
The Class of 1918 was made up of 4 case workers, 18 Red Cross workers
(be low), and 18 public health nurses. Students had come from seven states
to enroll in the Richmond School of Social Economy, begun in 1917 by social
worker Dr. Henry Hibbs. It was called "the first of its kind in the South," and
this first of its classes paid $40 full·time tuition, confirming Hibbs' and other
social workers' conviction to help advance "applied philanthropy" to a
science. By the time they took their degrees, it had become the Richmond
School of Social Work and Public Health, with Hibbs becoming its
president In 1939 it metamorphosed into Richmond Professional Institute
and, along with the Medical College of Virginia, in 1.968 became Virginia
Commonwealth University. Today alumni of the School of Social Work
number over 4,500.
outreach center, he became counselor
and consultant for his own company,
V. Wayne Orton and Associates.
NOW, as proprietor of 2,000
employees and a $214 nlillion budget,
Orton sees himself as chief executive
officer for a municipal organization of
105,000 people. If there is a key to
being a successful city manager, he feels
advice to those who would go into
administration: In the early stages of
your career, prepare yourself to
understand the impoltance of providing
two essentials-services to citizens and
to employees. Also, he says, if you
provide a supportive workplace in
which it is comfoltable to operate,
you've laid a good foundation for
workers to serve the citizens.
After a 14-monul stint as a deputy
director for Riclunond's Department of
Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and
Substance Abuse, Michael Evans '81
MSW'/ '77 BSW'became the city's director
of social selvices in the fall of 1990.
"I decided about social work before I
went to school," he says. "There were
lots of childhood influences relative to
the civil rights movement, and my
parents instilled the right kind of values
for me to pursue human services as a
career." After he'd earned his bachelor's,
Evans worked as a counselor for the
a caseworker for the city's Department
of Social Services.
His job, directing the largest social
service agency in Virginia, includes
managing 500 employees, an annual
budget of $30 million, and responsibility
for another $100 million in payments
and benefits. "Most of our attention
these days is focused on budget and
financial resources," he says. "Bec."ause
of the economy, there's been an
increased demand for our services.
"But our employees understand it's
hard times, and they're committed to
the mission of the agency and the
community." A1 though Evans adntits
public jobs may add a layer or two of
bureaucracy to a job, ·he says, "I came
back (from an e ight-year stint with
. United Way) widl the intention of
working for the city."
Meanwhile, on another campus,
Dr. Fred DiBiasio '83 PhD socia! work
work at the University of Maryland at
Baltimore. After earning his doctorate,
he saw clients dlrough an o rgmlization
he had created, the Center for
Counseling Selvices of Riclunond.
From 1984-86, DiBlasio taught full-time
at VCU while continuing his work
to provide counseling for people of all
incomes. He attributes his interest in
social work to being a young camper
and, late r, a counselor at Camp St.
Vincent De Paul in Annapolis,
Maryland, and to his Chlistian fa ith.
DiBlasio's research interests include
adolescent sexuality, homelessness, and
therapeutic use of forgiveness.
For a real overview of the School of
Social Work-Dr of VCU, for that
matter-Dr. Grace Harris '60 MSW' is
dle one to see. Now vice provost of dle
Division of Continuing Studies and
Public Service, Harris was dean of the
school from 1982 to 1990. In the 1950s,
Harris had begun her master's degree in
social work at Boston University, but
returned to Richinond to many and
completed her master's in social work at
Richillond Professional Institute, now
VCu. She later completed anodler
(Continued on page 8)