The School of Social Work is over 40 years old. In the fall of 1961, the Board of Regents authorized the founding of the Graduate School of Social Service Administration, as it was then called. The first Dean of the School, Horace Lundberg, was hired in 1962, and in the following year five new faculty members were hired to develop a casework-oriented MSW program. The School awarded 14 MSW degrees at its first graduation in 1965.

Although undergraduate social work courses had been taught in the Department of Sociology since 1946, it was not until 1976 that a newly accredited undergraduate major-the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW)--was merged with the MSW program to create the School of Social Work. A doctoral program followed in 1982. In July of 2006, the School moved from the Tempe campus to its new downtown Phoenix location.

Formerly a separate unit, the Department of Social Work on ASU's West Campus was merged with the School of Social Work in Fall, 2008.  The two units are integrated as one School.

To serve the needs of southern Arizona, the School's Tucson Component was created in 1978. In the mid-1960s there was an ASU School of Social Work presence in Tucson by virtue of field practicum students being placed in Tucson agencies. MSW extension courses began to be taught in 1972 and the Tucson component was officially established in 1978. Today Direct Practice MSW students may complete their professional degree entirely in Tucson while Planning, Administration, and Community Practice students take 9 to 12 credits at ASU Downtown Phoenix Campus. The Tucson BSW program began in 1995 as a Title IV-E partnership between the ASU School of Social Work, Arizona Department of Economic Security, and the ASU College of Extended Education, as a pilot program to prepare students for employment in child welfare and generalist social work practice. It became a permanent BSW program in October 1999. The Tucson Component moved in January 2001 into the new Community Resource Center developed by United Way/City of Tucson. The agencies and programs located on this campus are complementary to the focus of the social work program and the campus is across the street from Pima Community College. The Tucson Component now offers a full two-year MSW program, an Advanced Standing one year MSW program, and a BSW program. The program includes four full-time tenured faculty members, one part-time tenured faculty member, two full-time Academic Professionals, two administrative assistants, and an academic advisor.

Today the School of Social Work, including its Tucson Component, has an enrollment of approximately 1,000 students, and includes 37 tenured/tenure track faculty, 3 lecturers, 5 academic professionals, and 25-30 faculty associates who teach courses on a part-time basis. The School is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and is a vibrant community of scholars, teachers, students and staff.