Leading the Profession

Social work practice in the U.S. began at the turn of the century with the compassionate concerns of the charity organization movement. Social work education began in 1898 when the New York Charity Organization Society established a summer school for volunteers who wanted to deepen their understanding of the poor people they were dedicated to helping. This was extended to a one-year program in 1904 (and a full two years in 1910) to provide workers with adequate training for managing charitable institutions or advising families about their complex needs.

Originally called the New York School of Philanthropy, the program was renamed the New York School of Social Work in 1917 and the Columbia University School of Social Work in 1963. The School has maintained continuous academic connections with Columbia University, becoming formally affiliated in 1940, and a member of the Columbia University Corporation in 1959.

The School has a distinguished history of leadership in social work practice, social policy, and social work education. The faculty have always included nationally and internationally renowned scholars and educators who have shaped the knowledge base of the profession through their lectures and writings, including the basic texts used today in schools throughout the world. These individuals have developed many of the models for modern social work education and practice — psychiatric social work, bureaus of child guidance, research programs, required field work, and doctoral programs. Alumni of the school have earned honor and distinction as leaders in public and voluntary organizations worldwide. Many are deans and faculty members of Schools of Social Work, while others are building present and future leadership through achievements in practice, policy making, and research.

The Doctoral Program has its own distinctive and notable history within the School of Social Work. The 1940’s and 1950’s were a period of rapid change at the school, as a new generation of professors brought major curricular changes and educational advances. As the school launched an agenda to improve and enrich its educational program, it effected major changes in social work and social work education.

This was also the era in which doctoral training came to the school. Eveline M. Burns, who joined the faculty in 1946, was designated to spearhead the exploration and negotiation of a Doctor of Social Welfare degree. The social work degree was designed to parallel the Ph.D. requirements of the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and specifics were negotiated with the Executive Committee of that faculty.

Permission to develop the program was granted in 1946, implemented in 1950, and the first degree (a D.S.W., or Doctorate in Social Work) was awarded in 1952 to Alfred J. Kahn.

After a gradual start, the program hit its degree-granting pace in 1959-60 and was soon awarding half of the social work doctorates in the country. Its graduates became influential faculty members and deans in leading schools. The scale of influence changed only as, in subsequent decades, many schools began to offer doctorates and the numbers grew substantially. Almost 50 years after the degree’s inception, the Doctoral Program began to award the Ph.D. degree. To date, the Columbia University School of Social Work Doctoral Program has awarded over 600 D.S.W. and Ph.D. degrees in Social Work, and it continues to produce leading scholars and researchers in the field.