SSA Resources and Services
Facilities
The Social Work Library
The Social Work library, located on the first floor of Edith Abbott Hall, is one of the Crown Family School’s outstanding educational resources. The Library’s collection covers all aspects of social services and social work, as well as related material from other disciplines. Reserve readings for Crown Family School classes are located here.
The Library provides online access to thousands of ejournals and ebooks, as well as hundreds of databases. Computer workstations are available in the Library, which provide access to all of our online resources as well as various software products to assist you with your individual research.
The staff of the Social Work library are available to help researchers locate appropriate materials in the Social Work library and elsewhere in the University Library System. The Social Work Librarian can also provide research consultations and assistance with citation management tools upon request.
Students can access real time help with their research questions through the "Ask a Librarian" chat service. Students can also contact the Social Work Librarian, Holiday Vega, directly at holi@uchicago.edu to set up research consultations, ask questions about searching for peer-reviewed literature, or help with citation management.
Computer Laboratory
The Crown Family School provides a computer laboratory that is equipped with 22 PC-compatible machines with access to a high-volume network printer. This lab has been established for the exclusive use of Crown Family School students and staff, Crown Family School computer-based courses, and other instruction. The Crown Family School has 24 laptop computers for in-class instruction use. Each computer offers the latest software provided by the University for coursework and any applications required by classes at Crown Family School. In addition, the lab computers have high-speed connections to the Internet for browsing and email services. Students also have access to the Wireless Internet that is available throughout Edith Abbott Hall for use with their personal devices. The Crown Family School employs its own in-house IT staff for technical support.
Students use the lab to work on their own assignments and research; they also use the lab for statistical analysis for quantitative research courses. All students make use of the lab at one time or another for either required coursework or individual research and each student is provided with a limited amount of password-protected storage to use while attending the School. In addition, for a low per page fee, students are able to print coursework and other pages from our computer lab machines or their personal device on the University Library’s tap-to-print system with their ID card and can print at Edith Abbott Hall or at any location where Library system printers are available on campus.
The lab is available during all hours when Edith Abbott Hall is open. Additional computing University resources are also available throughout the campus, including the Crerar Library Cyber-Cafe and Regenstein Library computing lab.
Services
Advising
All enrolled graduate students at the Crown Family School receive general academic advising through the office of the Dean of Students. When students enter the Crown Family School as a first year student, they are assigned a faculty advisor with whom they are encouraged to discuss their academic program and career plans. First-year advisor assignments are generally made with the student’s Core faculty and are assigned by the office of the Dean of Students. Post-Core faculty advisors are assigned in association with the student's chosen program of study or concentration. Throughout their attendance at the Crown Family School, students are encouraged to engage any faculty member for advice or information regarding their interests or concerns. The student tab of MyCrownSchool contains many helpful advising tools, including course schedules, degree maps, writing supports, and more. The Dean of Students web page provides additional information regarding accommodations, financial concerns, special programs, or special needs.
Career Services
The Office of Career and Leadership Development provides career and professional development programs for master’s and doctoral students, including skills-building workshops, individual career counseling, job-search strategies, an alumni contact database, and posting of jobs in the Chicago area.
Quarterly workshops provide students with the skills needed to develop efficient job-search strategies, to convey transferable skills, to write effective resumes and cover letters, and to learn sound interviewing techniques.
To help provide networking opportunities, Career and Leadership Development offers a database of more than 1,000 recent Crown Family School graduates who have volunteered to be resources by offering advice and guidance to job-seekers. Several of these alumni also serve on quarterly career panels sponsored by Career and Leadership Development to discuss their transitions from school and their current career paths, as well as to offer advice to graduating students. Alumni and students also participate in a shadow program during the summer to provide one-on-one direct workplace experiences.
In order to better inform Crown Family School students about potential career paths, the Office of Career and Leadership Development sponsors an Employer Information Session series throughout the academic year. Employers representing the broad spectrum of post-graduate opportunities will join students at the Crown Family School for informal information sessions detailing the nature of the work performed by their organizations, how they may best fit Crown Family School graduates, and what the organizations are seeking in successful candidate applications, as well as application information and contacts. Some of these employers will also conduct onsite interviews at the Crown Family School and subsequently hire graduating students.
Throughout the academic year, Career and Leadership Development will also alert students to several summer, year-long, and post-master’s internship and fellowship opportunities. In addition, we will host several information sessions with representatives of these organizations along with Crown Family School alumni who have been past recipients of these internships and fellowships.
During Spring break, students can participate in the Crown Family School’s Washington Week. This program brings together Crown Family School alumni in the Washington, DC area with currently enrolled students. Often meeting at alumni work sites, students learn about careers in the public and non-profit sectors, as well as about careers in research, advocacy, lobbying, and program management.
Additional services and programming for all students are coordinated with UChicagoGrad.
Professional Development Program
The Professional Development Program (PDP) at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice provides a variety of meaningful programming to a diverse community of value aligned learners. We seek to equip practitioners with the ability to change harmful or ineffective systems at the national, local, and personal level. Our goal is to provide lifelong learners new skills and knowledge to integrate into their individual and organizational practices, and opportunities to connect with other porviders.
The program is designed primarily for licensed social workers and other human service professionals. Students at the Crown Family School are welcome to attend workshops and are provided a 50 percent discount. PDP events should be considered a supplementary offering to students’ academic experiences and as a resource throughout their professional careers.
Continuing education credit is available to meet state licensing requirements and to give recognition of personal initiative and growth. For information about upcoming programs, instructors, and tuition, please visit our website: https://crownschool.uchicago.edu/professional-development-program.
U-Pass
The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice gives all full-time master's and doctoral students a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) U-Pass. The U-Pass program allows cardholders unlimited rides on CTA trains and buses during the academic year, while classes are in session. Students will be assessed a $100/quarter fee for U-Pass privileges. Due to CTA guidelines, students in our Part-Time programs are currently ineligible for the U-Pass program.
Organizations
Student Organizations
The student organizations of the Crown Family School provide students with the opportunity to engage in leadership and action on a variety of issues of importance to the School and the profession of social work, while also providing the student body with structures for community and relationship building. Crown Family School student organizations take an active role in the discussion of academic, professional, and political issues in the School. Student organizations also sponsor various social activities that enrich the graduate school experience. All registered master’s students are members of the Crown Family School Student Government Association, and all registered doctoral students are members of the Crown Family School Doctoral Student Organization. Listed below are all the student organizations that have been active within the School. A sample list appears below. Visit https://crownschool.uchicago.edu/student-organizations for current student organizations and up-to-date descriptions, or contact the office of the Dean of Students to revive or start a new group.
Advocates’ Forum
Asian Student Association
Black Student Association
Crown Family School End Detention Project
Crown Family School Without Borders
Crown Family School Yoga
Disability Student Association
Doctoral Student’s Organization
Doctoral Student’s Social Club
(The) Elephant (Student of Color Created and Historically Led)
End Immigration Detention Project
Justice Works
Latinx Student Association
Poetry Club
Praxis
Social Q's
Student Alumni Representatives
Student Association on Aging
Student Government Association at the Crown Family School
Student Movement and Mindfulness
White Accountability Group
The Alumni Association
Established in 1929, the Crown Family School's Alumni Association strengthens and maintains links between the School and its more than 8,000 graduates. The Alumni Association furthers the interest of alumni, provides a bridge between alumni and the School, and promotes the School’s goals and objectives through volunteer service and generous financial support. The Alumni Association offers a full range of programs and activities that engage its members with the School and that contribute to individual and institutional advancement.
2021-2022 Crown Family School Alumni Board of Directors
Eugene Robinson, Jr., AM ’09, President
Loretta Maestranzi, AM ’14, Vice President
Peter Gaumond, AM ’93, Vice President
Paul W. Colson AM ’82, PhD ‘90
Louise Doss-Martin, AB '59, AM '63
Ronda Franks AM ’74, LCSW
Jeff Glick, AM '75
Joy Levin, AM ’11
Joanne Medak, AM '74
Tawakalitu Mitchell AM ‘01
Elizabeth Mullen, AM '13
Jesus Palafox-Valdovinos, AM ’17
Caitlin Worm, AM '12
Emeritus Alumni Board Members
Jacob Dancer, III, AB '89, AM '04
Marshall Jacobson, AM ’65
Alison Weston, AM ’08
Publications
Advocates’ Forum
The University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice's Advocates’ Forum is one of only a few student-run social work journals in the country. It provides Crown Family School students with an opportunity to express their scholarly interests through carefully written and researched articles on innovative topics in the field of social service. Advocates’ Forum welcomes articles in all areas of social work, including clinical practice, administration, and current social welfare policy. The journal represents the tradition of academic excellence.
The goal of this annual publication is to inform social workers in all areas of practice of the administrative and clinical interests of master’s students. The journal also supports Crown Family School students in communicating effectively and participating in the valuable exchange among students and professionals in the field. The faculty advisor for the 2021-22 academic year is Associate Professor Nicole Marwell.
Social Service Review
Founded in 1927, Social Service Review (SSR) is committed to examining social welfare policy and practice and to evaluate its effects. Providing multidisciplinary analyses of current policies and past practices in the United States and elsewhere, SSR publishes critical research from social welfare scholars and practitioners, as well as from experts in other fields. Articles include a wide array of such topics as child welfare, health care, social welfare policy, homelessness, the organization of services and communities, clinical practice, and juvenile delinquency. In addition to thought-provoking essays, SSR provides book reviews to keep readers informed of current critical research.
The University of Chicago Press offers subscriptions at reduced rates for Crown Family School students and alumni. Social Service Review is edited by Associate Professor Jennifer Mosley and the faculty of the Crown Family School. The journal is available at journals.uchicago.edu/toc/ssr/current.
Research Centers
Center for Health Administration Studies
The Crown Family School's Center for Health Administration Studies (CHAS) has been a leader for over 75 years in research and education in health policy and services. CHAS engages an interdisciplinary and international group of health policy and services researchers on topics of health policy innovation and reform, health and social service integration, health access, cost and quality, behavioral health, global health, and preventive intervention. CHAS is well-known for expertise in health policy and service effectiveness for the disadvantaged.
An intentionally interdisciplinary center located in a graduate school of social work is a unique institutional form that both exploits and enriches the values and orientation of the University of Chicago. CHAS has explored new questions, identified knowledge gaps, sought to enhance the translation of research-to-practice, and identified opportunities for collaborations within and outside the University. Programs support faculty research, research dissemination and translation, student learning, and engage researchers, scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners.
The Center also supports an innovative health policy and research training program for graduate professional students at the University of Chicago, the Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy (GPHAP). GPHAP is unique among health administration programs in the United States. GPHAP allows students to earn either a Certificate in Health Administration and Policy or a Certificate in Health Administration and Policy with a Concentration in Global Health, while earning a degree in one of the participating graduate schools on campus: the Booth School of Business, the Harris School of Public Policy, the Law School, the Pritzker School of Medicine, and the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice.
The Center is housed at the University of Chicago Crown Family School. CHAS moved to the University of Chicago in 1962, and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013.
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
The Crown Family School partners with Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, an independent entity. Chapin Hall has, since its inception in 1985 as a research and policy center, focused on a mission of improving the well-being of children and youth, families, and their communities. This mission is achieved through policy research—by developing and testing new ideas, generating and analyzing information, and examining policies, programs, and practices across a wide range of service systems and organizations. Chapin Hall's researchers meet regularly with policy-makers, agency directors, philanthropic organizations, and community groups to assure that important findings are placed directly in the hands of those who can best use them.
A number of faculty members from the Crown Family School are partners with Chapin Hall and direct research under its auspices. Crown Family School doctoral and master’s-level students form an integral part of many Chapin Hall research teams and are active participants in seminars and discussions. Please refer to the Chapin Hall website for more information about the organization’s research, publications, and conferences.
Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention (CCYVP)
Since 2005, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), researchers at the CCYVP have been committed to studying and preventing violence in Chicago communities. There is no simple or single answer to eliminating youth violence. The Center approaches the multifaceted problem of youth violence by providing programs targeted at children and families at different developmental ages and with youth at varying levels of associated risk and involvement. Center efforts are coordinated with the social systems that have the most direct influence on youth throughout development – families, schools, community agencies, and justice. Within each of the three core aims, the CCYVP is committed to training the next generation of youth violence prevention scholars, coordinating training and education activities across sites and academic disciplines. Professor and Dean of the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice Deborah Gorman-Smith is the Principal Investigator and director of the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention.
The primary aims of CCYVP are:
- To understand the nature and causes of youth violence, bringing together a coalition of community, policy and academic partners.
- To design and test prevention interventions, evaluating the process and impact of these interventions in high-risk, urban communities, and identifying the unique challenges and adaptations necessary for implementation in urban neighborhoods.
- To partner with the community, providing training and technical assistance to build capacity for schools and community agencies to select, implement and evaluate evidence-based interventions. CCYVP also evaluates and informs current policy strategies aimed at reducing youth and other forms of violence, evaluates the most promising interventions within the community, and uses these data to inform policy and practice.
Health Lab
The UChicago Health Lab leverages rigorous research methods such as randomized controlled trials, large datasets, and partnerships with government agencies and nonprofits to test novel health care delivery models and improve public health outcomes for underserved populations in Chicago and beyond. Health Lab staff partner with civic and community leaders to generate evidence on what works to improve health outcomes for vulnerable individuals who struggle to navigate the healthcare system.
Susan and Richard Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development
In February 2021, the University announced a $25 million gift from the Kiphart Family Foundation that would establish the Susan and Richard Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development. The Kiphart Center, led in partnership with the Biological Sciences Division, will bring together expertise from around the University in support of collaborative efforts with partner communities to alleviate disease, improve infrastructure, and promote community health and well-being. It will build upon the University’s global health initiatives, shape the overarching policies and structural inequities that impact health, and help achieve breakthroughs and improvements in the well-being of children, families, and communities around the globe.
Interdisciplinary Scholar Networks
The Crown Family School launched the Interdisciplinary Scholar Network initiative to bring together scholars across disciplinary and professional lines and to generate innovative and more comprehensive knowledge aimed at addressing some of society’s most intractable social problems. Two networks have been established:
- The Employment Instability, Family Well-being and Social Policy Network (EINet): This research network enhances the capacity of the field to study employment instability at the lower end of the labor market and develops and evaluates interventions aimed at reducing employment instability and its effects on children and families.
- The STI and HIV Intervention Network (SHINE): This network conducts research on the biological, behavioral, and structural factors that heighten vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections and HIV among vulnerable populations in the United States. SHINE develops and evaluates interventions to alleviate existing STI/HIV disparities.
Information and Application
For further information and application materials, contact the Office of Admissions, the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, 969 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637; telephone: (773) 702-1250 or by visiting the Crown Family School website at https://crownschool.uchicago.edu/.