As the theme of our March Conference notes, we will use our 25^th conference to look back to honor our past achievements, look at the present to celebrate our current place in social work education, and affirm our future as baccalaureate social work educators   As we prepare to attend our 25h Annual BPD Conference, it is appropriate to think about the role of the Baccalaureate Program Director, and changes that may have occurred in the definition of this role over the last 25 years.

When BPD was formed and held its initial conferences, academia in most of our institutions was a much simpler structure.  In my own institution at that time, there were only two schools (the School of Education and the School of Arts and Sciences), with a Vice President, President, and Board of Trustees overseeing them.  Today, having grown from a State College into a State University, we have a Board of Trustees, President, Provost, four Colleges, and two free-standing Schools, in the process of development.  Our Social Work BSW Program, originally housed in a Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, is now a Department of Social Work with both MSW and BSW programs within it.  I believe this is somewhat typical of the changes that other BSW programs may have experienced over the past twenty-five years.

Actually, the Baccalaureate Program Director, or BPD, of today plays an interesting role, neither faculty nor academic administrator, but a bit of both.  This role often involves walking a tightrope between academic administrators on the one hand and faculty and students on the other.  What makes this job particularly challenging is that the BPD not only administers an academic program, but in most cases also teaches in that same program.  So what are the roles that the BPD must play?  Is the BPD considered to be an academic administrator?

The Wikipedia defines academic administration as “a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities.  Some type of separate administrative structure exists at almost all academic institutions as fewer and fewer schools are governed by employees who are also involved in academic or scholarly work.  Many administrators are former academics with advanced degrees who no longer teach or conduct research actively” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_administration, accessed 1/27/08).  The function of academic administration encompasses supervision of academic affairs (including hiring, firing, promotion and evaluation of faculty and program staff), maintenance of official records, construction and maintenance of buildings, oversight of campus computing facilities, institutional research, admissions, and public relations with the community.  Administrative roles, as defined in the Wikipedia, include those of President, Provost, and Dean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_administration, accessed 1/27/08).

In Schools of Social Work that include an MSW Program, the School is usually headed by a Dean or Director, and that person does fit the Wikipedia definition of administrator.  What is interesting in Baccalaureate Social Work Education, compared with MSW Social Work Education, is that Baccalaureate Program Directors are not included in the definition of academic administrators, but often play important administrative roles.  In many cases, they have responsibility for some administrative functions, without having authority to make academic decisions.  If the BSW Program is not situated in a School of Social Work, then it is likely that the Dean or Director of their school is not a Social Worker, but a member of some other discipline (e.g., sociology)..

As demanded by the accreditation standards of the Council on Social Work Education, social work programs should have autonomy.  This includes authority over a program budget, major input into personnel decisions, and authority over curriculum.  As University Administration becomes more and more centralized, the role of the BPD becomes more difficult.  For BSW programs within Schools of Social Work, there are many layers of administrators between the BPD and the President of the institution.  First, there is a Dean or Director of the School of Social Work (who is usually more associated with MSW education than BSW education).  As institutions develop more complex and multi-layered administrative structures, there is often a Dean of a larger College (e.g., College of Human Services).  Beyond that, there is a Provost or Vice President of Academic Affairs and then a President or Chancellor.  At the top of the institutional hierarchy is a Board of Trustees. 

On the academic end of this hierarchy, the BPD must at times relate to a University Curriculum structure that begins within the BSW program, extends to a Department or School of Social Work, and from there to the College and University levels.  For BSW programs located within multidisciplinary Departments, there may be yet another level of administrative structure, in which the BSW program’s decisions must be approved by the multidisciplinary department before being forwarded to the School, College, or University level.

The BPD must negotiate successfully for resources and support within an institution that does not fully understand social work, and that may display distrust toward this applied discipline.  Thus, the BPD must become proficient in the important skill of educating colleagues and superiors about social work education and its importance within the academy.

In this issue of BPD Update, three BPD’s speak of their first year in this demanding position, including the challenges they faced and the strategies they used to survive this year.  It is my hope, as Editor, that you will find their experiences interesting and helpful to BPD’s, both new and old, as they fulfill this demanding role.