Stan Eichenauer

Eichenauers Designate Planned Gift to Endow Scholarship

H. Stanley Eichenauer (M.S.W., 1970), College of Social Work Alumni Representative to OSU Alumni Association Council, and wife, Shelomith, of Dayton, Ohio, have established a planned gift for the College of Social Work. The bequest provides a scholarship for a graduate-level student with studies in health or behavioral health.

Eichenauer’s first love was farming, having to grow up on one, though suffering serious injuries in an auto accident made a college education seem a better career choice. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University, initially studying engineering and then finding he did well in psychology courses.

Eichenauer continued his studies at the seminary with an emphasis on pastoral counseling. The director at the family services agency where he counseled encouraged him to pursue a master’s degree in social work since he was a natural in the field. He spent 13 years as a pastor in the United Methodist Church, providing pastoral counseling and visiting hundreds of parishioners in hospitals.

At Ohio State, Eichenauer discovered a strong interest in family therapy and crisis intervention. His advisor, Marjorie P. McMillin, an associate professor emeritus in the College of Social Work who passed away in 1997, saw him as more of an administrator than a clinician. She encouraged him in this area of field work. Obtaining his M.S.W. in 1970, he went to work as a screener at Upham Hall and taught mental health professionals in the College of Medicine’s psychiatry department.

Eichenauer collaborated with a psychiatrist colleague to establish a comprehensive community mental health center in Columbus. He also created the first community health-based forensic psychiatry program in the state.

In 2000, Eichenauer retired as president and chief executive officer of Eastway Corp., formerly Eastway Community Mental Health Center, after 25 years of providing leadership for the area’s comprehensive provider of behavioral health care, vocational rehabilitation and adult housing services. He initially was asked to step in as Eastway’s interim director and stayed, turning a small clinic into a large mental healthcare organization. After retiring, the White House came calling and he now serves as deputy executive director of the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. He is one of 22 members on the commission and one of only two executive staff members.

Eichenauer remembers the earlier days of his career when victims were blamed for their illnesses. “There is no one to blame, only human beings to be treated and supported in their communities,” he said. “When I first observed the suffering of persons with mental illnesses a half century ago, little was known about how to treat them.

“We must translate what we know into action,” he added. “Only then will persons with mental illness be able, like all of us, to live, work, learn and participate fully in our communities.”