SSW Celebrates the Careers and Contributions of Retiring Faculty: Dr. Jane Gilgun
As the 2020-21 academic year draws to a close, end-of-semester celebrations and springtime picnics on the Peter’s Hall patio remain elusive as we await our return to campus. This continued social distance, for inherently social people, make transitions and retirements at the School of Social Work all the more bittersweet. As we look forward to hugs and toasts in the near future, we are celebrating the career contributions of cherished faculty members this spring, with reflections from those who have witnessed their impact on the field firsthand.
Dr. Jane Gilgun, Professor, School of Social Work
Dr. Gilgun joined the School of Social Work in 1984 and spent the entirety of her academic career at the University of Minnesota. For more than three decades she has researched the development of violent behaviors, the meaning of violence to perpetrators, and how persons cope with adversities. Dr. Gilgun has led numerous research projects in collaboration with local and regional service providers, and she has been recognized for her research through many consultancies and lectureships locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. Dr. Gilgun is a national and international leader in the development of social work qualitative research methods, and has chaired Social Work Day at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry for the last ten years. In retirement as an emerita professor, Dr. Gilgun plans to continue doing research and writing in her substantive research areas for academic audiences and the general public.
Reflections on Dr. Gilgun from Professor Guy Enosh, School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Israel:
“Volumes can be written regarding Jane’s academic work, as a champion of the Chicago school tradition in qualitative research, developed by her as Deductive Qualitative Analysis, as well as her research with perpetrators of intimate violence. However, here I would like to refer to more personal aspects of her, her inherent generosity and kindness. True greatness is in the small details.
As the founder of the Social Work Day within the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI), she would always include young researchers and students in opening sessions, as session chairs, members of responding panels, and other functions. Never made an issue of it, or stated it as an official policy, just did it. At lunch breaks, she would just announce she would like to go to lunch, gather a diverse bunch of us, and create a collective feeling of togetherness and exchange of ideas and experiences, professional and personal.
The highlight for me was a few years ago, when I mentioned offhand in one such lunch-break that I intended to take a couple of months of semi-sabbatical, and she just went on to offer her house, saying that every summer she takes a month off going to Ireland. She ended up making it look like I was doing her a favor, house-sitting her home (not to mention the car and office that were included…).
This is Jane for me. A rare combination of a huge scholar who embodies in her person the pragmatist-humanistic tradition she champions. Serving as a mentor, not by explicit advice and instruction, but by being a true role model.”
Your SSW family congratulates and thanks you, Jane!