Long-time associate professor to retire

Associate Professor Diane Elze, who has been at the UB School of Social Work since 2005, will retire at the end of this semester.

As the Master of Social Work (MSW) program director from 2008 to 2019, Elze led the school through two successful reaffirmations with the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). In addition, Elze shepherded the school’s involvement in the Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice initiative with the Academic Health Center health professions and, as a member of the faculty interprofessional education (IPE) leadership team, co-developed the first iteration of the IPE online curricular modules, “Foundations of Interprofessional Education.”

An advocate for restorative practices, Elze added a course on the subject to the school’s curriculum and spent a sabbatical working in Singapore with an agency that embeds restorative practices into its work. As associate dean for academic affairs for the last two years, Elze introduced restorative practices into the school and developed a “Restorative Process for Addressing Racism, Antisemitism and Other Forms of Oppression,” to support and assist students when they experience oppression in the classroom or in their field placements.

Elze has served on multiple committees across the university and in the School of Social Work, most recently on the inaugural steering committee of the UB Community Health Equity Research Institute, and on the UBSSW Racial Justice Network since its founding in Fall 2020.

Among her many community affiliations, Elze serves on the board of the Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition and on the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression Committee of the Erie County Court Improvement Project. She was recently honored by GLYS Western New York at its annual GAYLA for her longtime service and commitment to LGBTQ+ youth and their families. For several years, Elze organized UBSSW students, staff and faculty to volunteer once a month at Friends of Night People in Buffalo.

Elze has served on the CSWE board of directors and the CSWE Commission for Diversity and Social and Economic Justice, and is a former co-chair of the CSWE Council on Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression.

“Being at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work has been the best position of my life,” Elze said. “We have fabulous students, the best staff and the best faculty that anyone could ever ask for,” she added. “I am so grateful for the opportunities that were afforded me, and it has been a joy to witness how our students, faculty, and staff contribute so much to the community. I look forward to seeing how the UB School of Social Work will continue contributing to the struggle for racial and economic justice in Western New York and beyond.”