Dean Maurice Daniels Receives Pioneer Award

More than 300 people filled Hill Chapel Baptist Church on Saturday morning to honor civil rights leaders from Athens and other parts of the state in the city’s 22nd annual Emancipation Proclamation Observance.

The event marked the 148th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect Jan. 1, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln’s executive order proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the states rebelling during the Civil War.

“What is there to say? You have done so much for me,” said Louise Hollowell, the widow of one man honored at the service, civil rights lawyer Donald Hollowell, who died in 2004.

Hollowell sued the state of Georgia to desegregate the University of Georgia more than 50 years ago, and also represented Martin Luther King Jr.

“Just to have us here today just swells my heart,” Louise Hollowell told the crowd.

Also receiving Pioneer Awards were Ed Turner, the late Miriam Moore and John Taylor, three of Athens’ first black city council members; longtime Clarke County Board of Education member Evelyn Neely; community activists Virginia Walker and the late Jessie Barnett; attorney Janice Mathis of Rainbow/PUSH; State Rep. Tyrone Brooks; the Elbert County NAACP chapter; and the Moore’s Ford Memorial Committee, which has kept alive memories of four people lynched in Walton and Oconee counties in 1946.

Civil rights lawyers John Mell Clark, Ken Dious and Willie Woodruff; Rev. Lee Avery of Wilkes County; and the Athens Economic Justice Coalition were also among those honored in the ceremony, which began with a gospel concert by the Athens group Brotha and the Wardlaw Brothers of Lyons.

“There are a lot of giants in this room today,” said another honoree, University of Georgia School of Social Work Dean Maurice Daniels.

Daniels is the founder of The Foot Soldier Project for Civil Rights Studies and Research and produced a documentary on Horace Ward, a retired federal judge who was turned down for admission to the UGA law school in the 1950s, but later was part of Hollowell’s legal team, which overturned legal segregation at UGA.

Also honored but not present were U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta, former Atlanta mayor and United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, the Rev. Joseph Lowery and former state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond of Athens.

The featured speaker, the Rev. Dr. Carolyn Ann Knight of Atlanta’s Interdenominational Theological Seminary, wound up the lengthy ceremony with an impassioned sermon that compared the plight of many people today to the plight of the Old Testament figures Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, cast into a furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar because of their faith.

People aren’t facing that today, she said.

“But I know a whole lot of folks who are going through hell right now,” said Knight, who also exhorted the crowd to support President Obama in part of her talk.

“We need to let the whole world know whose side we’re on,” she said.

She also thanked Marvin Nunnally, organizer of the event, for honoring Hollowell, Neely, Walker and the others who got Pioneer Awards on Saturday.

“We ought to say thank you (to Nunnally),” she said.

“We stand on their shoulders,” she said of the honorees.

As reported by Lee Shearer in the Athens Banner-Herald on January 1, 2012.

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CSWE awards School of Social Work full accreditation

(as reported in University of Georgia's Columns on November 9, 2011.)

The School of Social Work has been fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, the sole accrediting body of schools of social work in the country. UGA is one of the first schools of social work in the nation to earn accreditation under new standards set by the CSWE, requiring compliance with 10 core competencies identified as common to all social work practice.

“There was a core group of faculty, staff, alumni and friends who rolled up their sleeves and did the work that contributed to our highly successful accreditation process,” said Maurice C. Daniels, dean of the School of Social Work. “It is a testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment of these colleagues that we were able to go through this process without any questions or concerns about our compliance with standards.”

The school embarked on the accreditation process in 2007, beginning with a rigorous self-study of the B.S.W. and M.S.W. programs. In March, a site visit team met with various School of Social Work constituencies as well as Provost Jere Morehead and reported 10 strengths of the school with no concerns or questions regarding the programs.

“There appears to be a spirit of unity among the faculty of the school and the practice community with each reinforcing the other in efforts to provide the next generation of professional social workers,” the site visit report noted. “The themes of diversity and social justice permeate syllabi, special events and student organizations. Additionally, participation by students and faculty with other units of the university and the non-academic community in activities that promote social justice and enhance awareness about the value of diversity provides a platform for ongoing learning and social action.”

After a final review by the Commission on Accreditation, the CSWE determined UGA was in compliance with the its Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. The commission voted to reaffirm the baccalaureate and master’s level social work programs for the next eight years.

The school was one of the first to go through new accreditation standards set by the CSWE, according to Brian Bride, an associate professor who directs the school’s Ph.D. program.

“It’s an even more remarkable achievement that we had no concerns coming out of this process, given that we were really feeling our way through it,” Bride said. “A large part of our success really had to do with Dean Daniels’ leadership, vision and persistence in ushering us through that process.”

June Gary Hopps, Parham Professor of Family and Children Studies, echoed Bride’s sentiment.

“Good things don’t happen overnight,” she said. “It comes from outstanding leadership, good vision and good foresight; someone with a steady hand to guide us through. Dean Daniels had to carefully move us through many stages. He did it with grace.”

“In order to be effective in the recruitment of talented and diverse social work students and faculty, accreditation is crucial,” Daniels said. “We have a strong school because we have an outstanding faculty and staff, a very talented and diverse student body, and we have great support from our alumni and Board of Visitors.”


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