Loyola's School of Social Work (SSW) is located at our Water Tower Campus, at 820 N. Michigan Ave., in the heart of Chicago, one of America's most dynamic centers of education and commerce.

Loyola's Water Tower Campus is located just minutes from Lake Shore Drive and only steps away from the CTA Red Line's Chicago Avenue stop. Numerous CTA bus routes also makes stops on campus perimeter streets, including Michigan Avenue, Chicago Avenue and North State. The campus also is within walking distance from Chicago's Loop.

Many students who live and work in Chicago's outlying suburbs commute to the SSW, either choosing to drive or to use Metra, Pace or the CTA.

SSW students may also live in apartments near campus in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. Heading north from the Water Tower Campus are many other popular neighborhoods that offer hundreds of apartment buildings and housing options, including Old Town, Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville, Wicker Park and Roscoe Village.

The Loyola M.S.W. degree program is also offered at Carthage College, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Carthage College campus is located directly on Lake Michigan, midway between Chicago and Milwaukee. It is accessible by METRA and by major highways in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

Loyola and Chicago

For more than 100 years, Chicago has been recognized as a leading center for the development of social work theory and social action. Chicago's social work professionals and agencies have influenced practice nationally and internationally in clinical theory, models of social action, social organization development, emphasis on social work values in practice, and the empowerment of marginalized groups.

SSW maintains an affiliation with many of the agencies, organizations and human services programs within Chicago and the larger metropolitan area such as Catholic Charities, Jewish Children's Bureau, Metropolitan Family Services and the Loyola University Medical Center. Through fieldwork at these many resources, students have the opportunity to work with clients representing a wide range of socioeconomic, racial and cultural backgrounds.

Both as learners and as residents, Loyola social work students are enriched by the many dynamic aspects of our city: its ethnic and cultural diversity, its prominent role in commerce and business, its role in the labor movement, and its politics, culture and geography. Loyola's School of Social Work continues to be closely linked to Chicago; together, they offer important opportunities for practice and study to prepare well-qualified social work professionals.