Kenneth J. Herrmann Jr., MSW '75

Advocate for human rights

Kenneth J. Herrmann Jr., M.S.W., 1975, has dedicated his life to helping others. An associate professor of social work at SUNY Brockport, Herrmann began his career as a caseworker in child welfare agencies in the late 1960s. Since then the Buffalo native has – through numerous publications, board affiliations, and consultancies for governmental and international organizations such as UNICEF – advocated for human rights on an international scale.

The culmination of Herrmann’s personal and professional advocacy is the SUNY Brockport Vietnam Program, the only U.S. year-round study abroad program in Vietnam. Conceived, developed, and directed by Herrmann, this unique program combines an academic experience with community service. Students spend 18 weeks in Danang taking courses and helping provide aid for the poorest of the poor in Vietnam. Explains Herrmann, “My heart and my activities have always been in international aid and relief work. So a strong component of the Vietnam Program is helping to meet the needs of the people in Vietnam.”

Replacing Tears with Smiles

A sergeant in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, Herrmann started the program in 1998 after revisiting the village near Danang where he had served. On that emotional trip, Herrmann saw firsthand the horrific illnesses and birth defects of generations of Vietnamese that were caused by the wartime use of Agent Orange. Three years after launching the Vietnam Program, Herrmann founded the Danang/Quang Nam Fund, Inc., a non-profit, non-governmental charity that pays for the program’s services. Explains Herrmann, “The fund raises money from individual donations. That money buys food for the people who live in the Danang city garbage dump, food and medicine for people in the local leper colony, medicine, housing, and aid for Agent Orange disabled kids and a variety of others. These are delivered by the students in the Vietnam Program and my staff there.” Through the fund and the work of the students, the program is able to fulfill one of its central goals: replacing tears with smiles.

Effecting Change

Herrmann knew early on that he wanted to make a difference. But while employed as a caseworker he says, “I realized that there was no way to develop the skills and gain the knowledge to go beyond the individual cases that I was working with, and make some kind of an impact on policy level changes, unless I received a master’s of social work.” He chose to pursue the degree at UB because it “had an excellent reputation, well known faculty, and happened to be in my own backyard.” Herrmann especially remembers the influence of Professor Dorothy Lynn. “She was the kind of bright, genuine, and caring person who epitomized social work,” he says. “She deeply cared about her clients, social change, and the students that she taught. She kept them focused on what the profession is about and the charge that we have from society to effect change for those who are poor and exploited.”

Herrmann continues to take that charge to heart. On recent a Vietnamese television program about victims of Agent Orange, he saw a family that the Vietnam Program had helped. Herrmann was saddened to learn that three previously healthy sisters were now suffering from the same disfiguring cancer that had killed their father. He immediately wrote an impassioned e-mail that was picked up by the Vietnamese media. Herrmann recalls, “I wrote about how angry I was at having seen such a tragic occurrence within one family when we work with hundreds of them. I said it is about time that the Agent Orange victims themselves told America about their pain, rather than relying upon professors and diplomats and scientists and social activists, because they are getting nowhere.” As a result of his publicized outrage, Herrmann received more than 4,000 letters and pictures from victims across the country. Their moving stories are documented on the fund’s website, http://www.danangquangnamfund.org/

Bringing ourselves into our work

Herrmann is the father of one biological son and five adopted children ranging in age from 22 to 31 years. In addition to his family, he divides his time between teaching classes in social work at Brockport, lecturing around the country, writing (his latest book, Lepers and Lunacy: An American in Vietnam Today, will also be published in Vietnam) and running the Vietnam Program – both from the U.S. and traveling to Vietnam three times a year. The challenges and rewards of administering the Vietnam Program have become a central part of his life. This personal investment in his work is something he came to appreciate as a graduate student at UB. “The school provided us with a very well-rounded perspective of social work. We received an education that helped us focus on helping individuals, families, groups, and communities and to go beyond what had traditionally been done. It helped us to develop the skills to bring ourselves as people into the work that we would do.”

Written by Jessica Dudek, BA '94
May 2005

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