Festschrift in honour of Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger (1934-2011):
The Influence of the Person and his Ideas Today.
Save the date: May 12th to 14th 2023
Place: at the McGoogan Health Sciences Library – University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), Omaha NE.
Registration: $100 (USD) for ISRVA members – or $150 (USD) for non- ISRVA members. This event is organized and sponsored by the UNMC McGoogan Health Sciences Library, and the International Social Role Valorization Association (ISRVA).
The Festschrift will be a small-scale event (max 80 participants) – you can register now at https://go.unmc.edu/wolf. If you have questions you can email Raymond Lemay at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Festschrift: “a volume of articles, essays, etc., contributed by many authors in honor of a colleague, usually published on the occasion of retirement, an important anniversary, or the like.” Our Festschrift will include a gathering/symposium and book.
Dr. Wolfensberger died in February 2011, and 2023 will be the 12th anniversary of his death. His posthumous Model Coherency book has recently been published and after a few COVID related postponements, Spring 2023 would be a good time for a Festschrift event. The festschrift will provide an opportunity to examine and reflect on the breadth and depth of Wolf Wolfensberger’s contributions to the crafting of excellence in human services, his analysis of what threatens the lives of vulnerable people and what things keep them safe.
Wolf Wolfensberger led an eventful life, and his work has had far-reaching impact at the very least on the thousands of people who have heard him speak, and/or read his writings. He especially left a lot of remarkable ideas and conceptual schemes that still occupy the thoughts of a number of us who think they have continued relevance in society today. Wolf was a man of ideas and a man of action. As an agent of change he was involved in a variety of initiatives throughout his life. Twelve years after his death, we will gather to consider Wolfensberger’s life trajectory, how his ideas came about and what the future holds for them.
The themes below will be chapters of the Festschrift book, and be the subject of 30-to-45- minute presentations at the festschrift event:
Presentation (chapter) titles
- A Brief Biographical Sketch of Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger – Susan Thomas
- A Tracing of the Timelines of the Work of Wolf Wolfensberger – Susan Thomas
- There Was No Place Like Nebraska: Wolf Wolfensberger and the Beginning of Community Based Services – Eric A. Evans, Ph.D.
- Changing a country: Wolf Wolfensberger and the Principle of Normalization in Canada – Zana Lutfiyya, Ph.D.
- The Syracuse University Training Institute for Human Service Planning, Leadership, and Change Agentry (TI) During the Years 1973 to 2011 – Joe Osburn
- The Training Institute's Pennsylvania Evaluation Project – Joe Osburn
- The Early Work and Teaching on Planning and Change Agentry, and What Became of It – Susan Thomas, Raymond Lemay, and Guy Caruso, Ph.D.
- Defining Human Service Quality: The Evolving Concepts of Normalization and Social Role Valorization and their Respective Evaluation Tools PASS and PASSING – A Review of the Journey of Wolf Wolfensberger with the Concepts That Continue to Challenge and Inspire Us – John Armstrong, with Susan Thomas
- Wolf Wolfensberger’s Use of History – Thomas Malcomson, Ph.D.
- The Prophetic Voice of Wolf Wolfensberger: His Faith in Light of His Teaching on Personalism and Deathmaking – Jo Massarelli
- Wolf P. Wolfensberger Collection at UNMC McGoogan Health Sciences Library – Darby Kurtz
- The ongoing legacy of Wolf Wolfensberger: “But where are moral services to come from?” Marc Tumeinski, Ph.D.
- Appendix : Wolfensberger publications
There will be a celebratory banquet on May 13th for participants – included in registration fee.
Event Schedule:
Presentations begin on Friday the 12th at 2pm till 7pm.
Saturday the 13th from 8:00am to 5:30pm – Banquet at 6:30pm
Sunday the 14th from 8:00am to 1pm
To become an ISRVA member: https://socialrolevalorization.com/become-a-member-2/