Abstract
On April 3, 2016, social work lost one of its most visionary feminist leaders, Dr. L. Diane Bernard. As those involved with Affilia likely know, Diane was one of the journal’s “founding mothers.” For those who do not know, here roughly is the story: Years ago, Diane was part of a group of eminent social work educators, convened by Bea Saunders, who were all complaining that their manuscripts on women were rejected by social work scholarly journals while those on other topics were most often accepted. Out of this extended conversation came the idea of founding a journal, Affilia, to disseminate knowledge about the many problems affecting women and their resilience in the face of them, to promote feminist thinking, and to offer emerging scholars in these areas a place to publish their work as they pursued academic careers. The first issue was published in 1986 with Bea Saunders as Affilia’s founding editor.
Feminist and antisexist activism were not the only ways that Diane gave her professional life to the pursuit of social justice. As a leader within the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and social work education, Diane and her allies succeeded in adding to our accreditation standards the requirement that all social work education programs function in a nondiscriminatory way and include curriculum content on women, people of color, and lesbians and gays (in the language of the time). At the 2010 annual Women’s Breakfast at CSWE, which Diane helped fund for many years, her dear and long-time friend, Rosa Jimenez-Vasquez, said this about Lola Diane: Picture in your mind’s eye the 1960s and 1970s when minorities are claiming the right to have an equal place in society … women, people of color, lesbians and gays.… Now conjure up the image of one social work education leader with the vision, courage and strength to create an honorable space in social work education for an officially diverse curriculum [and] leading supportive faculty to welcome students of color … and those who were nontraditional in many ways.
Diane had a brilliant career in social work education. She served as Dean at Florida State University. At the CSWE Board’s request, Diane stepped into the role of interim executive director at CSWE when the previous executive leadership had brought the organization very nearly to bankruptcy, then handing it off to a permanent executive director on a sound financial and organizational footing. At Virginia Commonwealth University, Diane established and directed the first social work PhD program with a focus on social work education. She was also appointed to the Belle Spafford Chair at the University of Utah School of Social Work and before retirement consulted widely to many social work programs on successfully navigating the accreditation process.
Formally and informally, Diane promoted the careers of countless women in social work education as faculty members, in administration, and within CSWE. As news of Diane’s passing began to circulate in various online groups, many women remembered encounters and relationships with Diane that brought them caring and support just when it was most needed. I have been one of the many beneficiaries of Diane’s mentoring and support, for which I am deeply grateful. Over the years, I came to love Diane as a friend and just for being the spectacular woman that she was.
Diane’s professional legacy will endure. She modeled and embodied the vision, courage, and commitment we need to continue to work for greater social justice. To any woman in social work or social work education, any feminist thinker in our field, anyone who works in social work education to increase knowledge, equity, and inclusion for all historically (and presently) marginalized people: We stand on the shoulders of L. Diane Bernard and the others who first got us pointed in a better direction. We can best honor her memory by continuing the feminist, womanist, antiracist, and LGBTQ-affirmative work that Diane was committed to throughout her personal and professional life.