SSW Celebrates the Careers and Contributions of Retiring Faculty: Dr. Jim Reinardy

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. James Reinardy, Professor, School of Social Work

Dr. Reinardy joined the School of Social Work faculty in 1993, after spending the first five years of his academic career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research examines how older adults’ decisional control over their lives influences their social, psychological, and physical health. Dr. Reinardy has taught courses in health and social welfare policy, services to older adults, and organizational and community change. In recognition of his strong commitment to social work education, he was honored as the McFarland Outstanding Teacher at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Reinardy also has a distinguished record of academic leadership that spans 20 years of his career. He served as Associate Dean in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois, and as PhD Program Director, Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Director, and Director in our School. He is also credited with bringing the Youth Development Leadership program and the Center for Practice Transformation to the School of Social Work. In retirement as an emeritus professor, Dr. Reinardy plans to continue his scholarship on the conceptual interaction among social work practice, social justice, and human rights.

Reflections on Dr. Reinardy from SSW Associate Director and MSW Program Director, Megan Morrissey:

By the time Jim Reinardy became the Director of the School of Social Work he had already served in just about every faculty-level position available to him. Starting his career in the School as an academic P&A, he applied for an assistant professor position, and  then achieved tenure to become an associate professor. Along the way he picked up stints as the Director of Graduate Studies, the PhD Program Director and the Associate Director. Jim did more than warm the chair in every single one of those roles. He understood keenly the challenge of creating and building a unified School that wove a common thread that stitched together undergraduate, professional graduate, and doctoral education programs.

Jim embraced the themes of engaged scholarship and commitment to social justice as uniting all of us, and worked tirelessly to build a School that was more than a collection of siloed degree programs. Jim appreciated the critical necessity of autonomy for social work programs in research intensive university, with their multiple loyalties to the mandates of the profession, the need for effective services and just policies emerging from the surrounding community(ies), and the unceasing demands of a research-intensive institution. He navigated the tricky whitewater of potentially competing currents with compassion and support for all who worked in the School during his tenure as the director.

Jim appreciated that the better his faculty looked, the better the School looked, and the better our students looked, and he used this measure to do all that he could to make those around him both shine and to feel appreciated. There are innumerable stories to tell of Jim’s small acts of kindness, from his annual (and curious) gifts of tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce, to his deep and compassionate connections with faculty and staff members confronting life’s challenges while striving to do the best work possible.

Your SSW family congratulates and thanks you, Jim!