If Tony Roark’s name sounds familiar around the College of Health Sciences, it’s for good reason.
Roark is moving into the divisional dean role for the School of Social Work – not for the first time.
But Roark’s history with both the profession and the university go much further back. For years, he has been a professor of philosophy at Boise State and juggled progressive positions of leadership, including interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, chair of the Department of Philosophy – and divisional dean of COHS’ School of Social Work for the 2022-23 academic year.
Over the years, he has tackled strategic planning, reorganization and education reform, the development of research centers and institutes, the development of academic programming, program assessment and accreditation, policy development and fundraising, among many other initiatives and efforts.
He earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Washington (he is an internationally recognized expert on Aristotle!) and held a visiting faculty position at The Ohio State University before beginning his career at Boise State.
Boise State and social work run deep
So he’s got the academic and leadership chops. But perhaps more importantly, he’s a Bronco through and through. He grew up on a farm between Meridian and Star and graduated from Meridian High School. And he remembers how Boise State, and the School of Social Work, gave his mom a later-in-life career of meaning and purpose. She took her classes and earned her Boise State bachelor’s when she was in her 40s, went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and then worked for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
“I owe a debt of gratitude to Boise State,” Roark said. “It really was quite personal to me.”
Over the years, Roark has come to value and admire the work and the skills provided by professionals like his mother.
“It’s the breadth of work that social workers do,” he said. “The VA, schools, the hospitals, the health systems, the clinics, with refugees …
“It’s very difficult to name any social organization where there isn’t a touchpoint with social workers. That speaks to the impact and the importance of social work and social workers to the community.”
In his time with COHS during the pandemic, the need, and the impact that COHS-trained social workers could have, became even more apparent.
“That value has never been greater in our lives,” he said.
Ready to tackle the challenges ahead
As he sets to work, he is mindful of the challenges on many fronts: recruitment to the university of both students and faculty members, affordability for students and the commitment that a four-year education entails, the challenges of academic professions and the complicated social and political environment, all for starters.
“It’s really a challenging time, for social work, for social workers and for social work students,” he said.
The aim for him, at a very broad level, is sustainability in service to the school’s mission and to create the conditions for success for all.
“We need to be responsible stewards, and we need to do it without wringing out the people doing the work.”
Superpower in community connections
He knows that he and the team have considerable assets at their disposal; he calls COHS’ connections to the community a “superpower of the program.”
Adjunct instructors commonly work among the organizations that hire graduates, provide internships and consult on academic programming.
“It’s one or two degrees of separation with all of the partner agencies. It’s really remarkable, very, very strong.
“They’re invested, in our students, in the strength of the program, and so those partnerships are robust. We couldn’t do it without our partners out there.”
The school’s research activity and researchers are another meaningful strength, working with state agencies, health systems and others to evaluate and design programming, training and best practices. They also get National Institutes for Health funding and support from other entities to support research.
The direct application and practical value are critical, Roark believes. “There’s a clear through line from faculty and the research to the direct impact on the real world, and that’s very powerful.”
And what drove his mom is what drives students today, he knows.
“Students who come to our program do so from a place of passion. They recognize the value and the social need, and that’s quite different. It’s a deeply personal passion.
“I see that in our students and I see it in our faculty. They come to their work as a whole person, invested in the cause of social work. It animates all of their work, and there is tremendous power in that.”