| The
School is pleased to announce an extraordinary $1.9 million
bequest—the School’s largest gift ever--from the
estate of Milton and Florence Krenz Mack ’33 to establish
The Milton and Florence Krenz Mack Distinguished Professorship
in Non Profit Organization Management. “This phenomenal
gift,” Dean Midgley notes, “will enable the School
to revitalize its historic commitment to teaching and research
in nonprofit sector management.”
Florence
Krenz Mack received her B.A. in Economics from Cal in 1932,
followed by her Credential in Social |
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Welfare in 1933, making her one of the program’s earliest
graduates. As a professional social worker, Mrs. Mack served
in the San Francisco Emergency Relief Administration, the
Children’s Agency of San Francisco Associated Charities,
and the Public Welfare Department of San Francisco. Her husband,
Milton, was the founder of Milton Mack Associates in San Francisco,
a CPA firm that handled real estate affairs.
The Distinguished Professorship, which officially begins on
July 1, 2006, will be divided into four funds---a faculty
chair, a doctoral fellowship, master’s fellowships,
and a research center that will become the locus of studies
directed by the chairholder.
Thanks to the pioneering work of Professor Emeritus Ralph
Kramer, the School built an international reputation as a
leader in nonprofit management. In 1964, Kramer helped develop
a concentration in Community Organization and Administration,
which later became the present Management and Planning (MAP)
specialization. Following Kramer’s retirement in 1991,
Professor Michael Austin (MSW ’66)--a former student
of Kramer’s--was recruited to head the MAP specialization.
Mike Austin, it was recently announced, has been appointed
to serve as the first occupant of the Mack Distinguished Professorship.
“It’s rare that social workers who teach and conduct
research receive such wonderful recognition,” Austin
says. “I’m very honored. My mind is spinning with
so many possibilities.” Austin sees the Professorship
as not only a legacy of Milton and Florence Krenz Mack, but
as a tribute to the kind of work in non-profit management
that Ralph Kramer pioneered over forty years ago.
Mike Austin is no stranger to non-profit management himself.
He has written over seventy journal articles, seventeen books,
fifty-five research reports, and seventeen book chapters.
He serves on seven editorial boards of journals and is an
Associate Editor of Administration in Social Work. Last year,
he received the Lifetime Career Achievement Award from the
Association for Community Organization and Social Administration.
For the past fourteen years, in addition to teaching and research.
Austin has served as Director of the Bay Area Social Services
Consortium (BASSC), a unique collaboration among all eleven
Bay Area county social service agencies, five schools of social
work and two philanthropic foundations. BASSC conducts applied
research on questions identified by the heads of social service
agencies, engages in policy analysis, implementation and dissemination,
and runs an executive development program at UC Extension.
It is seen as a national model. He also consults widely with
Jewish community service organizations on issues of strategic
planning, team-building and management practice.
Professor Austin has already outlined an ambitious research
agenda for the Center. Armed with a commitment to use research
to inform practice, Austin plans to direct the work of the
Center toward greater collaboration with nonprofit human service
organizations such as operating executive development programs,
offering mini-grants to scholars, and disseminating reports
to nonprofit leaders. Among the questions Austin sees the
Center addressing are: How does the growing trend of partnerships
between nonprofits and local government human service agencies
enhance or detract from their missions? How do nonprofits
meet the challenges of fundraising? What lessons can be learned
from management service organizations providing technical
assistance and training for nonprofit agencies? What does
the increasing devolution of public policy to local governments
mean for nonprofit agencies and what is their role in upholding
the safety net? How can nonprofit agencies partner with corporations
to promote social capital? And, how do nonprofit advocacy
organizations build partnerships and coalitions to impact
the development of public policies?
“The School is extremely grateful for the valuable support
of the estate’s Trustees and for the visibility that
these funds will generate,” says Dean James Midgley.
“The Milton and Florence Krenz Mack Distinguished Professorship
will result in tangible programs and projects that will enhance
the School’s commitment to the non-profit management
sector including preparing professionals for public or non-profit
leadership roles, and developing new scientific knowledge
in the field.”
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Mike Austin appointed Mack Distinguished Professor