For the sixth time since 1908, students studying social work at Penn will have to call their school by a new name.
The Trustee Committee on Academic Policy voted yesterday to change the name of the School of Social Work to the School of Social Policy and Practice.
The change comes after a two-year-long dialogue on the subject between faculty, staff and students in the School of Social Work and representatives from the other schools on campus.
School of Social Work Dean Richard Gelles said that the name change is "exactly the thing to do to position the school as a unique identity in the profession."
"As the school has changed and moved with the times, it has adopted and changed names," he said.
The more general name is meant to reflect the school's addition of a number of new, interdisciplinary degree programs. The school now offers programs in nonprofit/non-governmental organization leadership, social work bioethics and social work and public health.
A significant portion of the school's 4,700 alumni and 300 students expressed reservations about the new name.
Kevin Jude, Graduate and Professional Students Assembly vice-chairman of policy, said that among students there is "concern that taking out the word 'social work' ignores the history of a 100-year-old profession."
He said that a significant percentage of students feel that including a mention of social work in the name would have been appropriate.
"Social work is a profession tied to a long history of values," said Social Work doctoral student Cay Bradley. "To remove the phrase 'social work' from the name of the school can be problematic for those who are closely tied to their identity as social workers."
Last week, Bradley wrote a letter to Gelles in which she also cited the lack of student input in the decision-making process as a concern.
Despite her complaint, she said, that the new name "embraces a larger social welfare perspective."
Trustee Mitch Blutt, however, felt that the new name did little to change the school's substance. "Organizations move on in their strategic direction despite their name," he said. "It's not the name, it's the strategy that matters."
