Historic Achievements

Proposed the philosophy that social work demands a firm intellectual base in the social sciences.

Pioneered an orientation toward public agencies as well as private charities.

Offered psychiatric course work as early as 1912.

Began publishing Social Service Review, the first scholarly journal in the field of social work, in 1927.

Laid the foundation for the child-related provisions of the nation's Social Security system through research on the status of mothers and children in the 1930s.

Developed the generic casework curriculum that became a model for social work education.

Professor Charlotte Towle published Common Human Needs, the classic manual for public assistance workers that linked psychiatric theories to social work practice (1945).

Developed the first social policy sequence in the country (1968).

Applied behavior modification to casework.

Under the supervision of Helen Harris Perlman, the School of Social Service Administration (now the Crown Family School) developed the task-centered approach to practice.