Celebrating the Career and Retirement of Dr. Nadine Bean
October 2020
Dr. Nadine Bean retired on August 14th, 2020, after completing 22 years as a Professor
at West Chester University. Beloved to many in the MSW Department as a respected colleague,
professor, and social worker, she didn’t always plan on going into social work. After
completing her B.A. in Biology and Psychology on the pre-med track, she started medical
school in 1980 with plans to go into family medicine or child psychiatry. However,
with a medically fragile young daughter, she decided a career in medicine was not
worth the time she would have to spend away from her daughter, and she nimbly pivoted
to a different career path where she found her calling: social work. Dr. Bean went
on to earn her MSA and PhD from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio,
where she was born and raised.
Dr. Bean described several highlights of her career, including her volunteer work
with the Red Cross in disaster mental health services. Her first deployment for that
position was to lower Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11. She has volunteered at multiple
disaster sites since then, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Bean
continues this volunteer work even in her retirement, though she will be providing
telehealth services in the future rather than traveling to disaster sites.
Another highlight of her career were the years she spent working in Baltimore County,
Maryland, before becoming a full time academic. During that time, Dr. Bean did in-home
work in the early intervention system, working with families of young children who
had intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. She found the work of providing
emotional support to grieving families extremely rewarding, and helped many come to
terms with diagnoses and the shifting dreams and expectations for their children.
After a stint at the University of Maryland where she worked as a post-doctoral research
fellow doing research on family violence in the military, Dr. Bean took the position
at West Chester University that she would hold for the next 22 years. Looking back
on over two decades as a WCU Professor, Dr. Bean spoke of her love and dedication
to the incredible students she has taught over the years and is especially proud of
being awarded the HRSA BHWET Grant in the Fall of 2017.
Since her retirement, Dr. Bean has continued working in a different capacity, by providing
childcare for her newborn grandchild and supervising the remote learning of her twin
9-year-old grandsons. While she is thrilled to be able to spend the time with her
family, Dr. Bean finds it strange to not have classes to prepare for or teach, for
the first time in over two decades. Despite the change in her work environment, Dr.
Bean still considers herself a social worker at heart. She explains, “There could
be no greater calling than social work, for me. I will always be a social worker.”