The Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University was founded in 1957. It is a methods-based institution offering concentrations in clinical casework, social group work, and community social work. Fieldwork is an integral part of the curriculum. Classes are held at Yeshiva University’s Wilf campus, in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood, and Beren campus, in New York’s Murray Hill neighborhood.
Wurzweiler's nationally accredited curriculum[1] is further informed by conferences on cutting-edge topics including HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, human trafficking, bereavement, trauma, and social action.
The school’s unique nature stems from an historic emphasis on values and ethics, respect for ethnicity, and recognition of the importance of religious beliefs and spirituality.
As of 2021, the dean is Danielle Wozniak[2] with Jay Sweifach serving as Associate Dean & Director of the PhD Program.February 2024. Previous deans of school were Sheldon Gelman[3] and Carmen Ortiz Hendricks.[4]
Wurzweiler offers the following degrees:
The Silvia and Irwin Leiferman Center for Professional Training in the Care of the Elderly provides opportunities in gerontology education at the master’s and doctoral levels.
The Wurzweiler School was founded to serve the needs of Jewish communal agencies for well-educated social workers. Through the recent years of its existence, this emphasis has been diluted. In its initial years, the Wurzeweiler School was known for the high quality manifested in all aspects of its operation. This led to its involvement in starting schools of social work at Bar Ilan University in Israel and in Lusaka, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).