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In memoriam: Pat Sipp Bartell, MSW ’69

Patricia Anne Bartell, 81, passed away on Jan. 26, 2012 at UNC Hospital.
In addition to being an alumna of the UNC School of Social Work, she was also a former faculty member and special assistant to Dean John Turner.

Bartell was born on May 17, 1930 in Chicago. She graduated from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa in 1952. She received her Master’s in Social Work from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1969 and pursued a Master’s in Public Health at UNC. She started her career in social work at the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women and as coordinator for special projects at the North Carolina Department of Human Services. After she obtained her MSW, she concentrated her work on the welfare of children and family and focused on foster care placement, group care, adoption, and child welfare initiatives. She worked as a consultant to UNC in the area of Group Child Care services. She was the coordinator for the Foster Training Project in Chapel Hill and director of the Department of Human Services Family Training Project. In 1973, she was deputy director of the North Carolina Rural Family Planning Project. She served as the director of social services and director of volunteer services for the Chapel-Hill Carrboro Head Start Program. From 1986-1990, she was special assistant to the Dean of Social Work at UNC and continued to lecture at the School. In 1993, she was appointed by Governor Jim Hunt to the North Carolina Social Services Commission.

“When I first came to UNC, Pat was a beloved faculty member at the School, ” wrote Dean Jack Richman in an email to faculty and staff announcing the sad news of her passing. “She was an all-around supportive and wonderful colleague. Pat retired many years ago but continued to support the School both financially and professionally. She helped to build the School of Social Work to, in part, achieve the reputation that we enjoy today.  We are indeed standing on the shoulders of giants.”

A memorial service was held at Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill on Feb. 5.