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The authors focus on a collective biography of 12 women social work educators, all either tenured or in tenure lines, from five different universities at the time of the study. The participants represent several aspects of macro practice including administration, planning, community practice, and policy. Beginning with reflections about coming into macro practice, we highlight memories about first teaching experiences and examine cultural shifts discovered in our academic journeys. We feature students who inspired us and perceptions of challenges in curricular development affecting the preparation of students. This article includes comments that emphasize the themes and focus of our collective reflections. Finally, we place what we learned in the context of a report from the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration calling for the visibility of and advocacy for macro social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript explores the experiences of a group of female macro social work academics using the collective biography process (Davies and Gannon, 2006). The narrative includes remembrances that the authors believe shaped who we are as macro social work academics and the work that we do. The shared stories are presented in a chronological manner and include analysis of the themes we identified as being important to the development of each academic within the group. Themes emerged pointing to a common understanding of the experiences and perhaps a view of the world. This suggested something unique in the development and socialization of women who become macro social work academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earliest days of social service in American history included elements of religion and government, working together in efforts to address human needs. In recent years, with devolution, privatization, and an overall reduction of public spending on human services, government entities have acknowledged their shared role with religious organizations in efforts addressing human needs. Recent social policies, known as faith-based initiatives, have emphasized these relationships, calling for more involvement from religious organizations and more public support of these organizations. This paper offers initial analysis of qualitative data that focuses on the nature of relationships between government entities and religious organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]