University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration
The School of Social Service Administration is the school of social work at the University of Chicago. SSA was founded in 1903 by minister and social work educator Graham Taylor as the Social Science Center for Practical Training in Philanthropic and Social Work. By 1920, through the efforts of founding mothers Edith Abbott, Grace Abbott and Sophonisba Breckinridge, and such notable trustees as social worker Jane Addams and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, the school merged with the University of Chicago as one of its graduate schools. It became known from that point forward as the School of Social Service Administration. The campus building the school occupies was designed by famed modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
SSA gives its graduates a broad grounding in the social sciences. The school offers both a master’s-level program and a doctoral-level program. The master’s program lasts two years and can be pursued either full or part-time. It awards graduates with an A.M. degree in social work. The doctoral program awards graduating candidates with a Ph.D.
SSA ranks number 1 in social work graduate programs in the Gourman Report.
