125th Anniversary:
A Historical Timeline
Social Work began as an intervention in the conditions of urban industrial life at the end of the 19th century and has evolved into a global field that impacts nearly every area of social and political life. For 125 years, the Columbia School of Social Work has played an integral role in this development. Below are some highlights in this illustrious history.
1898
First Summer School in Philanthropic Work, established in New York by the Charity Organization Society; 25 men and women attend classes at 105 East 22nd Street. The Summer School remained as the primary training source until 1904.
1904
The first eight-month course of full-time graduate study is offered at the newly renamed New York School of Philanthropy. To ensure cooperation with Columbia University, Columbia’s president is an ex-officio member of the Society’s special committee responsible for the School’s affairs.
1906
Dr. George Edmund Haynes, the first African American to receive a doctorate from Columbia University, decides to use his social work training to help found the forerunner of the National Urban League. The School forms a coalition to support the League’s founding.
1917
The School’s name is changed to New York School of Social Work.
1922
The Bureau of Child Guidance is founded to expand training for child guidance work. The School has been instrumental in this.
1929
Porter Lee, the School’s dean and a casework teacher, co-authors, with Dr. Marion Kenworthy, the first psychiatric casework text. (Kenworthy is also the first psychiatrist in a full-time position at a social work school.)
1931
The School moves to 122 East 22nd Street, the Russell Sage Building.
1935
The Social Security Act is enacted. The School has played a role in writing and implementing the Act.
1940
The School is affiliated with Columbia University as one of its graduate schools; the MS degree is awarded. Also around this time, the School becomes active in extending the social work role into the U.S. military.
1949
The School moves to the Andrew Carnegie Mansion at 2 East 91st Street.
1952
The School’s first doctoral degree is awarded, raising the academic level of social work.
1961
The Peace Corps is founded by President John F. Kennedy. The School has formed a coalition in support of this initiative.
Ada Deer becomes first Native American to receive MSW from CSSW.
1963
The School’s name is changed formally to the Columbia University School of Social Work.
1966
The School launches a major longitudinal study of foster children, their families and the agencies serving them, which influences national policy.
1971
The School moves to McVickar Hall on Columbia’s campus.
1978
Sr. Mary Paul Janchill, who received her Ph.D. in social work from the school in 1968, establishes the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park in Brooklyn, a program that demonstrates the ecosystemic perspective that she and other doctoral students helped to pioneer at the School.
1991
The first fully endowed professorship is established, followed by the full endowment of the Kenworthy Chair and nine additional endowed professorships.
1996
McVickar Hall undergoes extensive renovations; technological innovations include new electronic classrooms and computer labs.
1997
The United Nations Economic and Social Council Secretariat offers the School new program support and fellowship. School’s endowment rises to over $40 million.
1998
Columbia University School of Social Work marks its centennial anniversary.
2002
Construction of new School of Social Work building on Columbia’s campus begins; Dr. Jeanette C. Takamura is named the School’s 17th, and its first female, dean.
2004
The School moves to its current location: 1255 Amsterdam Avenue, on the northeast corner of the Columbia University campus.
2007
The Global Health Research Center of Central Asia is founded under Nabila El-Bassel, the Willma and Albert Musher Professor of Social Work.
2008
The Jordan Social Work Education for Excellence Program is established.
2012
The School establishes the Fisher Cummings Washington Fellows Program with a major gift.
2013
The School shortens its name by one word and its acronym by one letter, to the Columbia School of Social Work, or CSSW.
2014
The School opens its Online Campus for earning an MSW from various major cities in the United States.