June 17, 2008
Barbara J. Love Chapman
Fisk University, B.A. '63
School of Applied Social Sciences, '68
Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
Current home: Shaker Heights, Ohio
When Barbara Love Chapman began her first year at Fisk, the city of Nashville had just begun to witness the sit-ins, a strategy of nonviolent resistance during the Civil Rights Movement to compel legislators to grant full access to public accommodations. "The challenges I faced that year were manifold. How to remain actively involved, respond to the call for the marches, sit-ins, and boycotts, and remain focused on my coursework. I maintained my G.P.A.," she says. "The support of this movement by Fisk and its students is written as part of our American history."
While the issues raised in the Civil Rights Movement were suited to Ms. Chapman's decision to major in sociology, her firsthand experience with a social work practitioner had the most impact. "During my teen years, I met a social worker from the Child Welfare Division of the Cuyahoga County Welfare Department. She provided services to a family with foster children," she says, "but she also reached out to others of us in the community with her friendly, outgoing, caring personality and professional demeanor. She became my role model and was a major influence in my decision to become a social worker."
Her Fisk adviser recommended she consider obtaining her master's degree from the School of Applied Social Sciences at Western Reserve University, one of the top-ranked social work schools in the country. After graduating from Fisk, she returned to Cleveland to seek employment to offset the cost of tuition. She received a stipend from the Cuyahoga County Welfare Department and began her coursework.
Her diverse learning environment with students from different cultures and educational and socioeconomic backgrounds, proved an essential aspect of her training once she began her career with the Cuyahoga County Welfare Department. With each new job, she obtained a new level of leadership, serving as a caseworker supervisor, director, regional administrator, and assistant superintendent. Some of her work placements have been with the Ohio Department of Youth Services in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Detention Center, and the Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Retardation/ Developmental Disabilities.
Ms. Chapman became a consultant in 1997, providing administrative and organizational expertise to such organizations as the Ohio Supported Living Services, Children's Comprehensive Services (Florida), Cuyahoga County Invest in Children, and Cuyahoga County Family and Children First Council.
Among her professional memberships, she counts the American Correctional Association of Ohio Courts, Ohio Juvenile Detention Association, Urban League, the NAACP, Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and the Coalition of 100 Black Women.
Ms. Chapman has a son, Craig; a daughter, Charysee Black; two grandsons; and one granddaughter.
Posted by: Heidi Cool June 17, 2008 03:43 PM
Category: Alumni
, Legacy
, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences