Outstanding Faculty Service Award

Jan O'Donnell
2006-07

Jan O’Donnell, a professor in the School of Social Work since1974, is the recipient of the 2006-2007 Outstanding Faculty Service Award. Professor O'Donnell has served CSU, Chico faithfully for over 33 years and was selected for this award that acknowledges her many contributions to the School of Social Work, the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, the University, the community, and her profession. She has accomplished all of this with energy, dedication, selflessness, and a sense of mission to improve the world in which we live. She truly is an outstanding University citizen.

Among her many campus roles, Jan has served as professor, adviser, faculty mentor, committee chair, Bachelor's of Social Work director, Masters' of Social Work director, and department chair/director of the School of Social Work. She has taught nearly every course in the undergraduate program and led the school through four accreditation cycles for the BSW program and through candidacy and accreditation for the MSW program.

Jan wrote and received the Federal Title IV-E Child Welfare Education grants for the BSW and MSW programs that fund stipends for students committed to working in public child welfare, and the State of California Mental Health Education grant that funds educational stipends for MSW students whose goal is to work in public mental health services. At the same time, she supported and mentored junior faculty in their grant writing efforts that resulted in resources for faculty and program development and student stipends in geriatric social work. These programs will go far in providing social work professionals who are better prepared to serve citizens of our region, as well as the state.

A strong believer in strong university/community relationships, Jan worked continuously and collaboratively with many social service agencies throughout the region to strengthen the BSW program and to establish the MSW program. Leading the efforts to create the MSW full-time and part-time programs, she gathered information, worked with community and campus leaders, researched data, and wrote the accreditation documents. She continues to recruit new agencies, instructors and students for these programs.

As a teenager, Jan decided social work would be her chosen profession. She attributes two special high school teachers and her family for encouraging her to pursue this goal. Throughout her formative years, Jan’s family provided a home for foster children, and her parents were heavily engaged in community volunteer work well into their seventies.

It is Jan’s hope that as junior faculty members join their colleagues at CSU, Chico, they will continue in the Chico tradition of making service an important part of their faculty role.

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