Alumni spotlight: Marcia Harrigan, Ph.D.
Marcia Harrigan, Emerita Faculty and proud alumna of the VCU School of Social Work , where she earned her M.S.W., and the School of Education, where she earned her Ph.D., has continued to stay connected with the school for many years. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts and Psychology in math at Muskingum University in southern Ohio.
Why did you choose social work?
My senior year of college, I went to The Merrill Palmer Institute of Human Development and Family Life, which was a separate foundation institute in Detroit, and is now a part of Wayne State. During that semester I volunteered to work with foster care youth living in group homes. It was then that I decided that I wanted to go into social work. I remember the Merrill-Palmer faculty trying to persuade me to get a Ph.D. in Psychology and not to go into social work noting the difference in salary; however, I finished my senior year and took a job as a foster care worker for Lorain County Family and Children’s Services in Ohio. It was a wonderful agency that provided great supervision plus a reasonably sized case load. By my first year of grad school I had read pretty much everything that was assigned during my time at that agency. For the weekly supervision, sometimes lasting three hours, my supervisor would quiz me on all of my reading material so I actually had to know the information; this was more like a grad school tutorial.
In what ways has the VCU environment changed since you were a student?
A lot of change has happened! In the early 70’s the university was considerably different. It has always been an urban institution but in the 70’s it was really considered to be a night school. The School of Social Work was obviously a stand-alone school, but it did not have the breadth of programs and the number of students that it does now. Over the years I was at VCU, it has changed both in size and in stature. When I started, the medical campus had recently merged with the monroe park campus, so there was a lot of attention being placed on that.
What influenced your decision to come back to work at the VCU School of Social Work and teach?
After I earned my Bachelor of Arts, I practiced social work in Ohio, New York and also in Virginia. After obtaining my M.S.W. degree, I was with what was then the newly formed Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance abuse for the City of Richmond, which is now Richmond Behavioral Health Authority. After I took some time off to spend with my children, I started teaching as an adjunct faculty member for the school. I had done some field instruction and I really enjoyed all of my experiences so when they asked me to apply for what was then known as a collateral position, I took the chance.
Could you name some of the courses you taught?
Oh my goodness, yes! I started teaching in the baccalaureate program right after it merged with the School of Social Work. The entire school was up for accreditation so it was important that the baccalaureate program move from community services into the School of Social Work. I thought that a social worker with the B.S.W. degree was the most important for our profession having worked alongside most of my co-workers with degrees in other disciplines, myself included. The program had a really good reputation so I was happy to sign on. Some of the first courses I taught were the communications course, which is SLWK 230 and then I taught the Macro Behavior and Policy Practice for B.S.W. seniors and an integrating seminar that was offered at that time. In the M.S.W. program I taught primarily human behavior and practice, and worked with doctoral students in various capacities. I did liaison work the entire time I was on faculty, including when I was in administration. I wanted to keep my hands in practice and know about the changes that were going on, and I felt like continuing my liaison work allowed me to do that.
Currently, you are joining forces with Anne Kisor, former assistant dean of administration and finance, on the new fostering success scholarship. What inspired this scholarship and its collaboration?
About a year and a half ago, Bob Schneider, who is another retired faculty member, was in need of someone to substitute for him in the Great Expectations program he had become involved in as a tutor. The program provides tutoring and support services at the community college level for foster kids who are aging out of the system. There are 23 community colleges and almost all have these programs that were supported by the efforts of the former first lady Anne Holton. Bob needed a substitute while he was away and so I volunteered. The exposure and the enjoyment that I received from working with these students in the program is what motivated me to start this scholarship. Plus, I had worked in foster care in both Ohio and City of Richmond and I’ve done related research and publishing so there is a bit of a thread in my career fabric: Foster care, family and children, and family functioning. What I was seeing early in my career and now again through the Great Expectations program were these young adults that have such a big hill to climb to be successful but without the same support as others. When they age out of care, they are on their own. The scholarship is for students who want to make a difference for the youth that social workers serve. When they come to VCU the scholarship might be a form of support for them as they complete their Baccalaureate degree.
Along with volunteering and creating scholarships, what do you in your spare time?
What is “spare time”? After I retired I completed the Master Gardener classes with Chesterfield County and volunteer hours in that capacity. I play tennis 3 or 4 times a week and am in a book club comprised of professional women from a variety of disciplines including social work. I provide telephone support through a program at Jewish Family Services and enjoy some political involvement that I never found time for when I worked.
Oh, and I have two grandchildren and I currently watch one of them one day a week. The new baby I hope to be watching on a regular basis very soon. I also travel and ski, so I have my ski buddies who are Mary Katherine O’Connor, emerita faculty and David Fauri, Ph.D. who is a current faculty member. We get together every so often and take a trip out west or internationally. We’ve been to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. One of our most recent trips was to Utah and I think we might do Colorado again this year and skip the international trip.
How did these ski trips start?
The most exciting things during my tenure at the school were things that weren’t necessarily planned. They’re serendipitous. The ski trips were one of those things that just came along after a really stressful time. I just knew that if I didn’t do something fun before the spring semester started, I was going to be pretty unhappy. For some reason I really wanted to go skiing, something I hadn’t done for quite some time. So I called Mary Katherine, having no idea if she even skied, and it just so happened she used to. She and I went on our first trip together the day after New Year’s Day. After that we decided to get together and ski as much as possible. Then other faculty started to hear about our adventures so that’s when David joined us as well as former faculty member Mathias Naleppa. So it’s the four of us who go on these trips, Mathias less so since he now lives in Germany but he joins us when he can.
Do you have a favorite memory from your time at VCU?
There are so many…. Teaching in Belarus to help faculty there develop social work after the dissolution of the USSR, successful re-accreditations of our B.S.W. and M.S.W. programs, watching our graduates make a difference as their careers unfold, and participating in several service projects in Belize.
One of my many favorite memories would have to be when the female faculty started meeting together around scholarship back in the late 80’s and decided that we needed to have more fun. We started meeting outside of school every couple of months, informally, and called ourselves the “Ladies Aid Society”. We did things like host potluck dinners, themed dinners such as ethnic foods and play music and dance to it. It was academic at times that allowed us to share our teaching and scholarship experiences but it was also an effort to put some fun into working so very hard all the time. We really were demonstrating the value of social support, connectedness and collegiality as our careers unfolded.
What do you enjoy most about social work?
Watching people become empowered, to see them tap into their own resilience and see them meet their own goals. That was the greatest thing about teaching. These baccalaureate students come in as older teenagers or returning adults perhaps changing a career and in four years they really grow personally and well as professionally. They are just so different from when you first meet them. It’s the same at the master’s level although they come in more focused but 60 credits later you still see a real transformation.
What advice would you offer students entering this field?
I would tell them to keep a balance in life. Take care of yourself first and foremost so you can help others. Stay committed to the values of the profession, honor the worth and dignity of your clients and remember that we are about social and economic justice and change.
What has kept you so involved with the school over the years?
It’s really a commitment to the profession, because at different times I have thought whether or not I should I branch out to other areas in the University. I have varying interests that I want to explore, but at the end of the day it’s the profession of social work that keeps me coming back. I’m excited about giving back to what has given me so much and continues to give to others.
Categories Alumni, Faculty and staff