Social work in the United States has developed over more than a one hundred year period from a movement of individual and community based reformers to a recognized profession of hundreds of thousands. The history of social work has been characterized by a number of intense ideological and developmental struggles, not the least of which has involved the very meaning of professionalism and its application to a field with reformist intention. As with other professions, the relationship with

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... a has been critical both in the definition and the development of social work. This article reviews the American experience in the university-profession connection and describes the current character of social work education in the U.S. and how it both reflects and shapes the current character of American social work professional practice.