Final dean of social welfare candidate highlights initiatives he’s already begun at KU

Steve Kapp, professor and interim dean of the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, gives a presentation on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at the Kansas Union.

The fourth and final dean of social welfare candidate scheduled to give a campus presentation highlighted a number of initiatives already in progress at the University of Kansas.

KU faculty member Stephen Kapp, professor and interim dean of KU’s School of Social Welfare, gave his presentation Wednesday at the Kansas Union.

Key initiatives that will be increasingly important in the future include recruiting students, finding alternative funding sources and improving diversity in the school, Kapp said.

“Our competition for students is fierce, and it’s getting more fierce by the day,” he said.

The area of diversity, equity and inclusion needs to be a big focus for the future of the School of Social Welfare, Kapp said.

“This is an area where the school needs to make a long-term commitment,” he said.

KU must recruit and then support students from underrepresented backgrounds, he said. Training and supporting underrepresented social workers for leadership in their field is important, he said.

One idea is connecting with high school students to find those with an interest in social work, then bringing them to campus for multi-day visits, he said. Kapp said KU also has started looking at patterns of its successful bachelor’s degree students, with the idea that the school can identify younger students with similar profiles to recruit and support.

Steve Kapp, professor and interim dean of the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, gives a presentation on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at the Kansas Union.

Kapp said work force development is another target for recruiting students, and that more effort should be made to reach out to people working in the field who are “heavy on experience but light on education credentials” and want to complete degrees and advance in their careers.

Fundraising also has become more important than ever, Kapp said.

“That really needs to become the priority of our advisory board,” he said.

Other fundraising proposals include identifying topics of interest and tying them to fundraising efforts, Kapp said. Examples might be a social justice fund, a student need fund and scholarships for students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Kapp said being a long-timer at KU helps him connect with alumni and potential donors.

“I’ve been around for 20 years … If I don’t know them, I know people they know,” Kapp said, “I think that’s a really important commodity.”

Kapp also emphasized the importance of the School of Social Welfare reaching out to other KU schools and to other organizations in the community.

“Partnerships is just a huge thing for the school,” he said. “We’re going to have to be very aggressive.”

Increasing cooperation with KU research centers and placing doctoral students in community agencies for research assistantships are possibilities, he said. Kapp said he’s also begun discussions with the KU School of Medicine about the possibility for joint degrees or other public health collaborations.

Kapp described his leadership style as partly directive — saying at times a dean must simply make decisions, such as budget cuts — and partly supportive — enabling faculty- and staff-led initiatives by “rallying resources and putting structures in place.”

He said “inclusion and transparency” are important to the school and that he aspires to involve constituents and inform them about what’s going on.

Kapp has been at KU since 1997, and served as the School of Social Welfare’s assistant dean for academic affairs from 2011 to 2016. In 2014, Kapp received KU’s Leading Light Award for principal investigators with external awards in excess of $1 million. Previously, he was an instructor at Michigan State University and a field liaison for its master’s of social work student practicum. He has consulted for Johnson County’s juvenile court system and a number of agencies and organizations in Michigan.

Kapp received a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin, a master’s in social work from the University of Michigan and his doctorate in social science and social work from Michigan State.

Kapp has been at the helm of KU’s School of Social Welfare for more than a year, first as acting dean and then as interim dean.

Previous dean Paul Smokowski announced his resignation in March 2016, after less than a year in the position, following student diversity protests targeting him personally. Smokowski remains a professor at KU.


Other presentations

Four University of Kansas School of Social Welfare dean candidates were asked to present on the topic “The Social Work Profession in 2027 and the Role of Schools of Social Work in Preparing For It.”

Michelle Mohr Carney, a professor and director of the School of Social Work at Arizona State University, gave a presentation April 14. Wesley Church, professor and director of the School of Social Work at Louisiana State University, presented April 17. Daphne Cain, associate professor and chair of the Department of Social Work at the University of Mississippi, presented Monday. Stephen Kapp, professor and interim dean of KU’s School of Social Welfare, presented Wednesday.