The University Record, September 27, 1999 By Bernie DeGroat
News and Information Services
William Meezan, a nationally known child welfare expert, will be installed as the first Marion Elizabeth Blue Endowed Professor in Children and Families at the School of Social Work.
The inauguration of the endowed professorship, made possible by a $1.2 million gift from the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Family Foundation, will take place at 3 p.m. Oct. 5 in the Comprehensive Information Resources Center, School of Social Work Building.
“Professor Meezan will enhance our research and intellectual leadership in the area of children and families,” says social work Dean Paula Allen-Meares. “He is committed to interdisciplinary research and will be an excellent mentor for our faculty and students. We are very excited to start the new year with him on board.”
Ann Lurie’s gift to the School of Social Work was made in memory of her mother, Marion Elizabeth Blue, a single parent who worked long hours as a nurse to support her daughter and eventually send her to college. Blue died while Lurie was studying nursing at the University of Florida. Following graduation, she became a pediatric intensive care nurse in Chicago.
Meezan, who has a doctorate in social work from Columbia University, has written several books on child and family services, and has taught at the University of Southern California, where he was the John Milner Professor of Child Welfare, and at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Lurie has been a generous supporter of the University, with gifts that have helped fund the Robert H. Lurie Engineering Center, the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Tower on North Campus and the recently established Samuel Zell and Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the School of Business Administration.
The inauguration ceremony and reception are open to the public. To attend or for more information, call 763-6886.
