New Mexico State University didn’t offer an accredited social work degree until Alvin Sallee stepped up to lead the fledgling program in the mid-1970s. That was 50 years ago.
Today, NMSU’s School of Social Work is celebrating a half-century milestone that wouldn’t have been possible without Sallee’s determination to build a department centered on student success and focused on helping New Mexico residents and communities improve their well-being and overcome systemic challenges.
Sallee, the school’s first director, will be among the guest speakers at a 50th anniversary celebration from 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 6 in Corbett Center Student Union’s east ballroom on NMSU’s Las Cruces campus. The event will include remarks, tributes, alumni recognitions and a reception with a ballet folkórico performance. It is open to NMSU alumni, faculty, staff students and supporters.
Since its founding, the School of Social Work has become a leading institution in the Southwest known for developing professionals committed to serving people impacted by poverty and oppression through empowerment, cultural humility and competence, and social and economic justice. The school’s fully accredited bachelor’s and master’s programs are among the region’s most flexible and affordable options, collectively graduating an average of 100 students per year. And its faculty are among the field’s top scholars, with expertise ranging from immigration and border issues to substance abuse treatment and child welfare.
But none of this happened overnight.
“It took steadfast leadership and a clear vision from people like professor Sallee to lay the groundwork for what became NMSU’s School of Social Work,” said Mary Nienow, the school’s current director. “Its enduring legacy of service and lasting contribution to the profession and the people it serves is a testament to his work in particular.”
Sallee had big dreams when he arrived at NMSU as the coordinator of the Bachelor of Arts in social welfare. His ambitious plans included securing additional grant funding, recruiting more students and, most critically, soldiering the program through the accreditation process – all while teaching.
“NMSU didn’t have a social work program back then,” he said, “but it was our goal to establish a fully accredited one. We were able to get accredited in 1976, and then I asked the accrediting agency if they’d go back two years to capture the students who got their bachelor’s degrees in social welfare, and they agreed. So, that meant all our students graduated from an accredited social work program.”
But Sallee didn’t stop there. Seeing the program’s growth, he began advocating for social work to form its own department as part of the College of Health and Social Services. Within two years of arriving at NMSU, Sallee not only developed the university’s first social work program but also launched an entire department dedicated to training social work professionals. Sallee served as the department head from 1976 to 1994, a period in which enrollment grew from about 25 students to more than 300.
The School of Social Work has since marked many milestones. It launched a master’s program launched in 1990, which earned accreditation from the Council on Social Work Education in 1991. Then, Sallee, a pioneer of family preservation, opened NMSU’s Family Preservation Institute and a graduate program built on the approach of keeping families in crisis together rather than placing children in foster care. While the program shifted focus, Sallee remains proud of the work his faculty accomplished.
In 2018, the school began offering its master’s programs online, reaching more students in need of greater class flexibility. Its bachelor’s program is also offered completely online. As a result, enrollment across all programs has increased in recent years, following a slight decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. The school currently serves about 500 students.
The school also directly supports critical workforce development in New Mexico. Through its Child Welfare Scholar Program, the school has partnered with New Mexico’s Children, Youth and Families Department to increase the number of social work graduates who seek employment with CYFD, helping fill the shortage of social workers in the state.
“The School of Social Work has always been on the cutting edge, from its Family Preservation Institute to adopting online education,” Nienow said. “Social work is about change and the capacity for change to bring about good. Our school has, and will continue, to make an impactful difference in New Mexico, the Southwest and beyond.”
For more information about NMSU’s School of Social Work, visit https://socialwork.nmsu.edu/index.html. To register to attend the 50th anniversary celebration, visit https://alumni.alwaysanaggie.org/e/sw-50th-celebration/.
-30-
New Mexico State University social work students in 1998. NMSU’s School of Social Work will host its 50th anniversary celebration Nov. 6 on the Las Cruces campus. (NMSU photo)
Alvin Sallee, far right, was the founding director of New Mexico State University’s School of Social Work. Sallee stands with Virginia Higbie ,left, and Yoshi DeRoos, center. (NMSU photo)