Eric Joseph Dick Memorial Prize
Purpose
This prize is to be awarded to the student who has achieved the highest standing in the course Beginning Social Work Practice (SLWK 2333) in the Bachelor of Social Work program for the academic year.
Funded by
Eric Dick Memorial Prize
Awarding body
The Dalhousie School of Social Work Awards Committee or successor committee
Background
Eric Joseph Dick was born in Liverpool, England in 1902 and although he won an art scholarship in high school, he was apprenticed at a mechanical firm for several years as a stationary engineer. In 1923 Mr. Dick immigrated to Dafoe, Saskatchewan where he met and married Jessie Rutherford, a prairie school teacher and native of upper Stewiacke, Colchester County, Nova Scotia. In 1923, the Dicks moved to Nova Scotia where he obtained a job as supervisor at the Nova Scotia Training School for mentally challenged children and became a board member of the Children’s Aid Society of Colchester County. At the end of the war his first position was as the Director of the Lunenburg County Children’s Aid Society, then in 1949 he replaced Lawrence T. Hancock as Superintendent of the Nova Scotia Training School for Boys until 1954. Following several years as Superintendent of the School he was transferred to an administrative position at the Department of Children’s Aid in Halifax until he retired.
In 1992, Eric died at the age of 90. Eric, a principled leader was known for his common-sense approach to everyday problems and had a great capacity to work with people and gain their trust and confidence. At a time when the public looked upon the profession of social work with limited approval, Eric presented it as offering a reasonable, knowledgeable and caring approach to dealing with people and their problems.
The Eric Dick Memorial Prize in Social Work was established in 2008 by John Dick and Barbara (Dick) Flewelling to honor the memory of their father, Eric Dick who was one of the pioneers in the field of social work in the province of Nova Scotia.