Lewis, Verl.

Verl Lewis was a social work educator, welfare administrator, and historian of the social work profession. Lewis studied social work at the University of Chicago and at Case Western Reserve University. During his career he was a professor of social work at the University of Oregon (1949-1952), University of Connecticut (1955-1959), and University of Maryland (1959-1974). He also served as a public relief worker in South Dakota; public welfare administrator in Portland, Oregon; and staff member with the American Red Cross in California. Lewis was also a founding member of the Social Welfare History Group.

Verl Lewis was born in rural South Dakota in 1910 and received his undergraduate education at Huron College in South Dakota. He took social work courses for a brief period at the University of Minnesota before becoming a public assistance worker in South Dakota. Initially he was employed under the Federal Emergency Relief Act and assigned to survey the socioeconomic conditions on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota. From 1937 to1939, he attended graduate school at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration.

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