Kipling P. Coggins

Kip and I were in the same grad school cohort in the doctoral program at the University of Michigan. I am sad to hear of his passing and I send condolences to his family. He was such a generous and gentle soul, and the profession of social work was better off because of his many contributions through teaching, research, practice, and service. I am honored to have known him.

Dr Coggins was a brilliant (and tough) social work instructor. He forced me not to memorize facts but to understand situations. His ability to explain the involvement of systems has been integrated into almost every aspect of my social work practice. I recall his exams being some of the toughest exams I had ever taken. They forced me to study, they forced me to be better, they forced me to know the subjects, know the texts, to read the readings in order to understand them. When I took my...

Kip was an interesting and kind professor, he always made sure to reference his own experiences in Mexico . During his evening classes I would try not to doze off because I was very pregnant. He taught us about ancient Mayan civilizations and I named my daughter Maya in honour of my experience in his class. He will truly be missed.

Dr. Coggins was such an instrumental figure in my social work career. As one of the few African American students at NMSU he became my mentor, he was so cool and I loved his stories especially about his wife. Rest in Peace, and thank you for being a leader in my life.

I am terribly saddened by the news of Kip's passing. He was a very good friend and I visited with him several times in cities where he worked. He and his brother helped me out on many occasions when I had car troubles. I was chair of PhD program, I believe, when he was here and he was a dear and caring soul. He was much too young to be taken from us.

Charles Garvin

I am saddened to hear the news of the death of Kip Coggins. Kip was one of the earliest Native American graduates of the PhD program of the University of Michigan's School of Social Work . Over the course of his career, Kip made many contributions to the profession of social work and to social work education.

Please accept deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Kip Coggins,

Dean Lynn Videka and devoted colleagues of the University of Michigan, School of...

It is with great sadness to hear about Kip's passing. The last time I spoke to him is when he and Natalia visited my family and I here in Maui, Hawaii in 2011. We somehow lost touch in the years that followed. He came to mind about a month ago, and I tried to get in touch again but to no avail. I wish I tried harder. Anyways, he was a wonderful friend with an amazing heart for people. I will remember the many discussions we had. Those were happy memories. Natalia, my prayers and love go...

I am so sad that Dr. Coggins has past. Me and all of the other students in his HBSE class were learning so much and got so much out of it. Truly, in what little time we got to learn from Dr. Coggins was so enlightening and amazing. His unique perspective gave us all so much more insight than we normally would have had. Dr. Coggins, we miss you. You were an excellent professor and we were so lucky to have virtually met you and learned from you. Rest peacefully.

Kip was an incredible soul on this earth adding to human understanding of culture. He dedicated his life to helping others understand that which connects us, always striving to leave the world in a better place than how he found it. I had the privilege of working with him at APS south region in 1994 after he had published his first book and while he was working on his Ph.D. We had many in depth conversations and I learned so much from him about culture, healing, prison culture and so much...