Ruth Bluford Anderson

As a Black woman navigating the challenges of the late 1960s, the achievements of Ruth Bluford Anderson were built on resilience and a deep commitment to helping others. She was a trailblazer for women and people of color in higher education roles, and eventually led to her becoming the first African American department head across UNI’s campus.

In her 1985 autobiography, she documents her longstanding legal battle with the university: 

“I began what was to be for me, personally, the longest battle against discrimination that I have had to fight. My request for promotion to full professor, while recommended by my Departmental Professional Assessment Committee and my department head, was denied."

The battle eventually resulted in her being awarded a full professorship with tenure. The out-of-court settlement was seen as a major victory for female professors at public universities in Iowa.

Anderson founded the social work program at the University of Northern Iowa in 1969 and taught all three courses offered at the time. She also built a social work library, established field placement connections with local agencies, designed and built the social work curriculum and obtained program accreditation approval from the Council on Social Work Education. 

“I decided to come to UNI after checking the enrollment and realizing that a large percentage of UNI students continue to reside and work in Iowa throughout their lives,” said Anderson in the Northern Iowan. “I knew my teaching here would affect the quality of social work in Iowa and I felt it needed it.”

Today, the UNI Bachelor of Social Work program regularly has 200 students enrolled in the major. In recognition of Anderson’s contributions to the program, the department offers the Ruth Bluford Anderson Social Work Scholarship for an undergraduate social work major. 

Previously employed as a social worker in Waterloo, she worked in and studied public welfare and addiction. Anderson was one of the first to focus on the problems faced by minorities, specifically women struggling with alcoholism and substance abuse by Black people. 

She was heavily involved in the area, serving as the president of the Black Hawk County chapter of the NAACP, a member of the Iowa Substance Abuse Commission, active in the Sickle Cell Foundation of Black Hawk County and also wrote letters and spoke on the phone with prisoners in Iowa’s penitentiary. 

After 22 years of service to UNI, Anderson retired with a Professor Emeritus status. She then began serving on the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors, becoming the first African American woman elected to a county Board of Supervisors in the state of Iowa.

Anderson’s work earned her numerous awards, such as induction into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Iowa African American Hall of Fame in 1996. She was also named Social Worker of the Year by the Iowa Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Social Workers. 

“I feel I’ve been recognized because I’ve taken advantage of all the opportunities given to me to impact the lives of others,” she said after her induction into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame.