The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration ("SSA") is one of the world's leading school’s for the training of social worker’s, ranking 3rd (US News) and 1st according to the (Gourman Report). It merged with the University in 1920 after having been founded as the autonomous Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. Demanding a broad grounding in the social sciences by its graduates in which the SSA leverages its curricular and faculty interaction with the university-at-large, the school’s primary aim is to train professionals who can engage in the active formulation of policy in an applied context, in opposition to the more limited vocational trend of most graduate level social work programs in the United States. The School offers a two year A.M. degree that can be persued full or part-time, as well as the Ph.D. The University of Chicago is a private research university located primarily in the Hyde Park neigborhood of Chicago, Illinois. ... A social worker is a person employed in the administration of charity, social service, welfare, and poverty agencies, advocacy, or religious outreach programs. ...