Famous people's places / Detroit – Midtown
Wayne State University School of Social Work
Wayne State's social work school, teaching in Detroit since 1935, where longtime Detroit City Council president Maryann Mahaffey taught for decades.
01 / The story of this place
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Wayne State organized a School of Public Affairs and Social Work in 1935, and by the end of the 1940s social work had grown into its own independent school within the university. Maryann Mahaffey joined its faculty and taught social work there from the 1950s into the 1990s, all while building a second career in Detroit politics: she was elected to Detroit City Council in 1973 and became its president, using both her classroom and her council seat to push for women's rights, welfare reform and services for the poor. She kept teaching well into her time as one of the city's most recognizable elected officials, and the school still runs a legacy scholarship campaign in her name. The school moved into its current home, a renovated building at 5447 Woodward Avenue on Wayne State's main campus, in 2016.
- Organized as a school in 1935, part of Wayne State from the start
- Maryann Mahaffey taught here from the 1950s into the 1990s
- Mahaffey was also longtime president of Detroit City Council
- Moved into its current Woodward Avenue building in 2016
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- Maryann Mahaffey 1925–2006 · social work professor, city council president
Worked here
She taught social work here; the school runs a legacy campaign in her name.
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Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
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03 / Events
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