History of the National Catholic School of Social Service
In 1918 the National Catholic Welfare Conference, seeking to enhance the education of relief and rehabilitation workers in Catholic social service agencies, established a service school. Graduates of the school proved to be valued employees in the burgeoning diocesan social service programs in the United States and abroad. This convinced the American bishops to call upon the National Council of Catholic Women to develop the program into a professional school of social work for women. In 1919 they formed the two-year graduate school and named it the National Catholic School of Social Service, NCSSS.
NCSSS functioned as an autonomous educational institution during its formative years, but in 1923 its independent status changed. In that year it became affiliated with The Catholic University of America, and its graduates henceforth received their master's degrees in social work from the University. In the same year, NCSSS was admitted to the organization later known as the American Association of Schools of Social Work.
The Catholic University of America, in response to requests by the diocesan director of Catholic Charities for the social work education of priests, religious and laymen, decided to establish an additional school of social work in 1934. Because NCSSS limited its enrollment to women, the new Catholic University School of Social Work was a professional school for male social workers. This school became affiliated with the American Association of Schools of Social Work in 1937.
Almost immediately the two schools began exchanging faculty, students, courses, and resources, and by 1939 there was an academic fusion. In 1947 the schools were formally merged as the National Catholic School of Social Service of The Catholic University of America.
Education toward the master's degree, MSW, was the primary mission of NCSSS at its inception, but additional degree programs have been subsequently established. The doctoral program was established in 1934 and is the third oldest in the world. Through the university's School of Arts and Sciences, an undergraduate degree program in social work was established in 1969. NCSSS began to award the Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.) degree in 2010. In 2018, a degree administered through a collaborative project of NCSSS and the Metropolitan School of Professional Studies (M.S.P.S.) targeted for the working professional interested in pursuing the entry-level college degree in the profession of social work was offered. The degree, the Bachelor of Social Work for Professionals (B.S.W.P.), is administered by MSPS with professional oversight by NCSSS.
In 2014, NCSSS launched its online MSW program with a clinical concentration. Students from across the U.S. and in countries around the world complete all coursework online. The field education practicals are completed in the student’s home community. The program is ranked in the top ten of all online MSW programs and is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.