The Social Work Department is celebrating 50 years of their department this year, and we’re so happy to celebrate 54 years of Dr. Ron Dolon. Stay tuned as the department plans activities to celebrate this milestone.

Ron started working as a caseworker for Family and Children’s Services in Hammond, Indiana in 1965, when he was finishing up a degree in Psychology at Western Kentucky State University.

Ron said, “Well, back in that period of time, bachelor’s degrees in social work, there weren’t that many programs in The United States, so people didn’t really know about social work. Plus, they used to say, you need a degree for that? All you do is talk to people.”

Ron went on to finish an MSW in 1969 from the University of Denver in Community Organization, while working as a School Social Worker for the Hammon Public Schools, and then as Personnel Officer and Staff Development Consultant for Family and Children Services in Gary, Indiana.

He started his career with Ball State in 1971, in the Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Social Work. Dolon says of the department, “We had 400 majors back then and three faculty. Now we got 15 faculty, the same number of majors, plus we’ve increased in the number of classes. And I think back then, students would come in and they tried sociology, they tried criminal justice, they tried something else, then they finally came to social work.”

Ron has had many things shape his teaching style over the years, feedback from students, various department chairs, and from being a student himself.  One very formative experience he wanted to pass on to his students was the value of listening and focusing on his professor’s lecture and not having to take notes.

He tells the story, “When I was in graduate school, we had a professor come in and he was from Greece. He had a law degree and a social work degree, and he was dynamite. He was so energetic and entertaining and, you know, and we’re sitting right there taking it all in.  Come back to the next class next week and this girl sitting there, she’s got typewritten notes. I said, how do you do that? She said, well, every day I go home, and I type my notes. I said, hey, could you Xerox them for me? And she said, sure. So, I was able to sit there and listen and interact. So, for my students, I have all my notes online, and I tell them this story.  And one of my, criticisms at the end of the semester from students, was Dolan won’t let us take notes.”

Ron has taught a variety of courses for the majors, but has always been in the undergraduate area, because, “they’re his favorite.”  His teaching content area includes: Social Services with Older Adults, Introduction to Social Work, Social Welfare and Social Services I and II, Social Welfare Policy, Human Behavior in Social Environment, Social Work Practice 2, Methods of Intervention, Internship in Social Welfare, Interventions in Family Violence, and Social Work Research 1.

He’s also knows as the guy for Humor University, and his seminar called Laughademics: Teaching with Humor. His most recent presentation of this material was at the American Association of Service Coordinators (AASC) National Service Coordinator Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana where he had around an audience of 200 for his presentation last October. Ron said, “Humor is part of stress management, I’m the professor of playfulness, I have about 50 faculty members of Humor U to date.”

He says he will probably retire, but he doesn’t know what that timeline looks like right now. He’s still going strong, planning an Immersive Learning Course coming up in police social work. His class is the only police social work in the country.
Dolon said, “Indiana has probably 15 cities that have police social workers. In the last year, they’ve probably got eight more. They’re starting to grow, and people are becoming more aware of it. Muncie has two that they’ve hired. My students are going to put training materials together on what is a police social worker. They’re going out into the 41 neighborhoods. When they have a neighborhood meeting, they’re going to let people know what the police social workers do. So now a social worker who’s trained in mental health will take over for the police and relieve them with some of the burdens that the that the officers deal with”

There are more stories to be told of Ron’s teaching anecdotes and tales of social work practice like interview techniques and his time spent as an adult protective services investigator, and as an advocate for the elderly. In he won the 2024 Rosalie Wolf Memorial Elder Abuse Prevention Award.

If you’ve not had the occasion to spend time with Dr. Ron Dolon, you should. He is an absolute delight. This interview was like talking with my oldest friend. Ron has a beautiful corner office and windows with a view. It’s stuffed with books, mementos, and a bunch of plush singing toys used as classroom aids, which is exactly what you’d expect from a veteran professor who has been teaching longer than the Department has existed.