Ohio State University first offered a course in social work in 1875. However, social work was not a common term used at this time, so any courses offered contained the title “sociology.” In 1916, after the creation of the College of Commerce and Journalism, a new program of social service emerged. The first students to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Service graduated in 1918. Sociology became a separate department under the College of Commerce and Journalism in 1922. A year prior, the College offered a Master of Science in Social Administration program. Later, the Master of Science in Social Administration changed to the Master of Arts in Social Administration. Finally, the School of Social Administration formed in 1927 under the Department of Sociology. In 1932, the School of Social Administration split apart from the Department of Sociology.

During the Great Depression, the School of Social Administration faced faculty and budget cuts. However, a new building for the School of Social Administration finished construction in 1937. The new building was funded by Harry L. Hopkins, a Federal Administrator of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which provided laborers. As of 2017, the building, named Stillman Hall, houses the College of Social Work.

In 1940, the School developed a program leading to a degree of Master of Arts in Social Administration. However, in 1954, the School dropped the title Master of Arts in Social Administration to simply shorten the program to Master of Social Work. It wasn’t until 1960 when the School of Social Administration changed its name to the School of Social Work. During that same year, the degree of the School changed from a Bachelor of Science in Social Administration to the Bachelor of Science in Social Welfare.

In 1968, the College of Commerce and Journalism changed its name to the College of Administrative Science, changing the domain of the School of Social Work. A larger change came in 1976 when the School of Social Work reached college status, making it the College of Social Work.