From Collegium, Fall 2004 by Sheryl E. Taylor
She's part Jane Addams, part Homie, part Glenda the Good Witch, and a li'l bit rock 'n' roll.
Margaret O'Donnell's first acquaintance with social work occurred in fifth grade. Her assignment: write a report on a famous person whose birthday was in the same month as her own. She chose Jane Addams, the mother of social work and founder of the world-famous Hull-House in Chicago.
She got an "A." The report hangs on her office wall as a reminder of where her journey into social work began. "Isn't that cool," she says, smiling, of the coincidence.
The world of social work was a far cry from her childhood ambition to be a rock 'n' roll star. Rock 'n' roll star didn't turn out to be an entry on her résumé, but social worker did. With bachelor's in hand, O'Donnell began a search for the best career fit. In 1989, she became a family youth worker for Houston's Hope Center Youth & Family Services. In 1992, she graduated with a Master of Social Work from UH. Eventually, she burned out from managing caseworkers and decided to return to her alma mater.
Her new journey began with a one-page proposal and a stack of materials to set up an American Humanics nonprofit management program at UH. "I spent the fall semester of 1993 incubating, staring out my window and thinking: 'What the heck have I gotten myself into?'" The next year, she taught her first course, Introduction to Social Work and Social Services, to a packed room and still teaches to a full house each semester. "It's a joy to be able to talk about social work in a very positive, exciting light."
For the past ten years, O'Donnell has served as program director for the university's American Humanics Nonprofit Certificate Program. She developed, from concept to reality, the undergraduate academic and experiential certificate program in nonprofit management through affiliation with American Humanics Inc.--a national organization that works with colleges, universities, and national nonprofit organizations to certify college students to work in America's nonprofits.
UH's David M. Underwood Chapter of American Humanics is one of seventy campus programs around the country. It has a national reputation and an alumni association that's 150 members strong. "I tell them I am an American Humanics groupie. It's the best thing I've done as a social worker."
Through the humanics program, twenty to thirty interns are placed each year. There's a huge community connection--approximately 25 percent of its students are hired by the organization for which they intern. "They have the leadership, the academics, the experience, and the professional skills to be successful," she adds.
An imagined world of community and social work sits on O'Donnell's desk--all 150 of her Homies--by way of fifty-cent vending machines. Homies, created by a Los Angeles artist, are a community of rubber figurines representing a close-knit neighborhood. Each Homie has a name and a story, yet all share aspirations, faults, strengths, achievements, challenges, and even tragedy. "It's absolutely amazing. They rise above their difficult lives. They help each other, support each other," she says. "That's social work."
Which Homie does she most identify with? El Profe (Spanish slang for professor). Last year, the National Association of Social Workers named O'Donnell Social Worker of the Year of the Houston Unit.
During a retreat with a Wizard of Oz theme, her students crowned her Glenda the Good Witch ... with a pair of ruby slippers, of course.