Profile of a Donor
Kathleen Kaye-McKean, MSW'88
The November 9, 2006 Louis H. Carter Endowed Lectureship was featured in the October/November issue of Penn Matters. Here, Kathleen Kaye-McKean, MSW’88, reflects on establishing the Lectureship
Underscoring the adage that good things come to those who wait, the Louis H. Carter Lectureship returned November 9, 2006 following a year’s hiatus, for its 2nd annual Lecture in the series. Featured speaker, poet, activist Nikki Giovanni, kicked off her comments with political and social satire worthy of Late Night talk show hosts. Soon settling into the centerpiece of her comments, focusing on race and racism, Giovanni successfully made the unlikely metaphor of the imagined difficulties of future space travel and Middle Passage. Powerful and provocative, Giovanni belies her petite stature and packs a wallop in each carefully crafted concept. Her parting gift was a reading of an unpublished poem.
Professor Louis Carter and Kathleen Kaye-McKean
at the November 9th Louis Carter Endowed Lectureship
Giovanni, once a student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, recognized that the profession of social work may not be a fit for her, as she insisted on writing assignments in poetry form. She left Penn the year Louis Carter arrived. While their orbits did not coincide, philosophically they intersect in their understanding of identity and difference. Iconoclasts, both, they share a belief in telling it like it is, and shaking assumptions, comfort levels and indifference.
Currently the longest standing professor at the School of Social Policy & Practice, Carter accepted an invitation in 1970 to teach a newly instituted course, Racism: Implications for Social Work. Here he pioneered course content which demanded that the would-be social worker go beyond intellectualizing their understanding of racism, with Carter using his own experiences as a black man as course content. Talk about uneasy learning, Carter challenged students to move out of their comfort zone and confront racism, its impact and implications both personally and professionally. A learning tool for successfully moving forward with this understanding of difference is the Functional Theory.
For four decades Carter has provided stewardship of the functional approach, the philosophical armature of the School of Social Policy & Practice. Carter has embraced the functional approach as his professional mission and training ground for the beginning social worker. A guru of Rankian psychology, Carter seized on the psychology of difference as one that could transform both social worker and client. Carter’s challenge to the social work student translated into effective engagement in the workplace. Imagine the numbers of students and clients transformed by this psychology.
To honor Professor Carter and acknowledge his lifelong dedication to teaching, I have established the Louis H. Carter Endowed Lectureship. The Lectureship will continue to shine a light on his work and will continue to let his life speak as the issues of race and racism are the centerpiece of the lectureship. Looking forward to 2007, we are already planning the third annual Louis H. Carter Lectureship. We hope to include you in this planning with updates on speakers and to involve you in the planning with your pledge of support.