ATHENS, Ga. - Bill Swan, professor of educational leadership in the University of Georgia's College of Education, has truly succeeded in melding every faculty member's three-point mission of instruction, research and service into one. But schoolchildren in Georgia and throughout the nation may be the ones who benefit most from all of his hard work.

Swan, who has spent 30 years teaching and working in special education, was recently honored by the Georgia Council Administrators of Special Education (G-CASE) with the Lillie N. Moncus Award as the state's Outstanding Special Education Administrator of the Year.

The award, G-CASE's most prestigious honor named for the late Fayette County special education pioneer, has been given the past 12 years to the special ed administrator who best exemplifies the concern and enthusiasm of its name-bearer. It is the first time the award has been presented to a UGA faculty member. The winner of the award is submitted as Georgia's nominee for National CASE's Special Education Administrator of the Year. No Georgian has ever won the national CASE award.

"I can't think of anyone who has done more for Georgia's special education administrators than Bill has," said Emily Collins, G-CASE president. "He organized and conducts the Special Education Leadership Institute held annually for administrators. He has personally trained many of the special ed administrators in Georgia either through UGA, the leadership institute or other workshops as well as with his personal mentoring."

Swan recently completed a comprehensive grant application for the Georgia Department of Education seeking $7.4 million in federal funds for the improvement of special education in the state. The 400-page grant proposal outlined a statewide project involving 11 components and more than 60 public and private agencies, and special organizations. An announcement on the application is expected in December.

"Through G-CASE, he also put together a grant-writing manual that is still used by special education leaders in Georgia," said Collins. "It's hard to cover all that Bill Swan has done for special education leadership in Georgia."

Other special ed leaders echo Collins' remarks.

"Bill has taught many UGA administration courses here in our county which has allowed our administrators to become better trained without having to travel to Athens," said Luann Purcell, Director of Special Education for Houston County Schools. 

"One of our former principals, and now Superintendent of Schools in Crawford County, Sandra Neal and I were trained through Bill's Collaborative Leadership Training. This is a nationally recognized program that Bill developed through the University and Department of Education," she said.

"Bill models collaborative leadership in all that he does. The Georgia Association of Curriculum Directors (GASCD) won a national award for a newsletter on collaboration that Bill edited. Indirectly, so much of the field-based research that Bill has been involved in has impacted the quality of service provided to our community."

Purcell said Swan puts in many hours of his own time to be personally involved with students and administrators when teaching or working on field research. Swan estimates he travels about 30,000 miles a year throughout the state to work with special ed administrators and teachers.

"He is very good in program and systems evaluations and is often called by superintendents to evaluate areas for effectiveness and efficiency," said Purcell. "He believes in a team approach. He has a way of pulling together just the right team to evaluate and come out with appropriate and specific suggestions for improvement in a very short period of time."

For instance, Swan provided a needs assessment for Rockdale County Schools which helped reorganize the structure at the central level making services to students and teachers more effective, according to Rockdale Director of Special Education Facie Goodman.

"Bill's greatest asset to systems has been the development of leadership skills and models. His efforts on collaboration with regular education administration has made the possibility of inclusion an easier task for systems. Bill's constant drive for improvement in leaders benefits all kids," said Goodman.

Collaboration may be the one word that truly defines the essence of Swan's work. He has written a book on interagency collaboration for services to young children and their families. Swan points to his most recent grant application as an example.

"One of the things that is really critical is putting all these agencies together so they talk to each other," he said. "I look at all educational improvement in a collaborative paradigm. Educational improvement is a collaboration of local, state, professional organizations and the College of Education as a catalyst, facilitator and participant."

Swan's expertise in writing grant applications has paid big dividends for Georgia educators. At least 50 percent of educators who used Swan's manual received grants they were seeking.

"We've implemented improvements in education, in part, because we've got the highest quality of trained personnel we've ever had in the field. I mean that's what we're supposed to be doing here. So you work with the people who are doing the jobs and you try to improve it based on the best research and best practice you can get," he said.

Swan first came to UGA in 1969 as a research assistant for the evaluation division of the Research and Development Center. From 1970-1977, he served as program evaluator, instructor and coordinator, and National Outreach Project Director at UGA's Rutland Center, Division for the Education of Exceptional Children.

He gained invaluable experience while serving in several posts at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C., from 1977-1983 including Acting Deputy Director of Special Education Programs.

Swan returned to UGA in 1983 as an associate professor and chair of the Division for the Education of Exceptional Children at the College of Education. He served as an associate professor of Educational Administration from 1984-1990 and was also graduate coordinator of that department from 1990-1994. He was named full professor of Educational Leadership in 1998. 

Thursday, Oct. 12, 1998

Writer: Michael Childs, 706/542-5889, mchilds@coe.uga.edu