Diana R. Garland, the founding dean of the School of Social Work at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, died on September 21 in Colorado. She was 65 years old and had suffered from pancreatic cancer. This past April, the School of Social Work was renamed in her honor.
Dr. Garland joined the faculty at Baylor in 1997. Previously, she was a professor of Christian family ministry and social work and dean of the Carer School of Church Social Work at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Professor Garland held bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from the University of Louisville.
Dr. Garland was the author or editor of 21 books including her latest work Why I Am a Social Worker: 25 Christians Tell Their Life Stories (NACSW, 2015). Since 1993, she had served as the editor of the Journal of Family and Community Ministries.
Ken Starr, president of Baylor University, stated that “Diana has always been a remarkable inspiration. She led the School of Social Work with distinction and honor for nearly 20 years. We all have been blessed to have known Diana, a good and faithful servant to the adopted university she loved with her whole heart. Her work leaves a legacy of changed lives, healed families, strengthened congregations and expanded frontiers of knowledge in the field of social work.”