Retired faculty members establish scholarship fund for MSW students 

Dr. Barbara J. White, ’76, and Dr. Bruce A. White have endowed a scholarship fund in their names to support students in the Gallaudet University Social Work program. This scholarship will be offered for the first time during the 2024-2025 academic year. 

In announcing the fund, Dr. Barbara White wrote, “My husband Bruce and I are pleased to establish this endowed scholarship fund for MSW students. As an undergraduate student when the social work program was first established in the 1970s, and later as a faculty member in the Social Work department when the MSW program was established in the late 1980s, it has been gratifying to witness the tremendous growth of the field of social work with deaf and hard of hearing people. We hope the fund will help increase the number of professional MSW level social workers who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing to meet the growing demand for social workers with the knowledge and skills in working with the Deaf population at all system levels.” 

Dr. Barbara White started her career as a clinical social worker at Family Service Foundation in Maryland and was a faculty member in the Department of Social Work at Gallaudet University for 31 years. She retired in 2014. She taught both undergraduate and graduate students, was department chair, and served on a member of faculty governance committees. She also served on various community boards serving deaf and hard of hearing communities. Her career interests encompassed mental health, adoption in Deaf families, macro and international social work, disaster relief, and advocacy for accessible social and mental health services to deaf and hard of hearing people.  

Barbara White led student study abroad courses to Guatemala and Costa Rica, and was part of the disaster mental health response team during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She has received numerous awards for her teaching and service. She is a graduate of Gallaudet University (BA), the University of Maryland at Baltimore (MSW), and the Catholic University of America (DSW). In retirement, she continues to volunteer in different capacities, and serves on the Patient Family Advisory Council of Beebe Healthcare. Most recently, she coordinated public relations for the Delaware Deaf Fest.  

Dr. Bruce White taught English at Gallaudet from 1978 to 2008. He served on many university committees and was vice chair of the University Faculty for two terms. He also served twice as chair of the English department, including during the time it had 40 members teaching approximately 1,000 students per semester. He participated in the 1988 DPN movement and the 2006 Unity for Gallaudet protests. 

Bruce White attended public schools in Massachusetts long before support services for deaf and hard of hearing students existed. He took sign language classes at the Learning Center for the Deaf and became that school’s first student teacher after earning an M.Ed. degree. He then taught deaf students for several years at the new Keefe Vocational Technical High School before becoming one of the first hires at DEAF, Inc. After completing a master’s degree in English, he accepted a position at Gallaudet. His publications were mostly on American and Victorian literature, and his Ph.D. dissertation on Elbert Hubbard’s writings was published in 1989 and reprinted as a paperback in 2018. 

Bruce White believes in volunteering and public service, and served in elected local office in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Delaware. 
 
Both Barbara White and Bruce White are professors emeriti. They reside in Ocean View, Delaware. 

To contribute to this new fund, go to giving.gallaudet.edu. For more information, contact Tamara Suiter in the Office of Development. 

This article contains information from multiple sources, including an announcement from the Social Work program in the School of Civic Leadership, Business, and Social Change.