Biographical Sketch
Katherine Stuart van Wormer grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and received her B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina and went on to get a postgraduate degree in English education from Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she taught English for two years; a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Georgia (specializing in corrections and social psychology) and finally, an MSSW from the University of Tennessee-Nashville.

Active in the civil rights and peace movements in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and later, in Northern Ireland, Katherine van Wormer continues to work for peace. For two and a half years she worked as an alcoholism counselor in Washington State and Ohio, and for two years served as program director at Vangseter, a treatment center north of Hamar, Norway. Her academic work has been mostly in the area of women in prison and alcoholism treatment. Harm reduction and restorative justice are two of her favorite models and the subject of numerous articles.

Dr. van Wormer is the author of fourteen books including: Death by Domestic
Violence: Preventing the Murders and the Murder-Suicides (2009),published by Praeger; Social Work with Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals: A Strengths Perspective (2000) co-authored with Joel Wells and Mary Boes published by Allyn and Bacon of Boston; and Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective (2003) co-authored with Diane Davis, Wadsworth.  Confronting Oppression, Restoring Justice: From Policy Analysis to Social Action.  (2004). Alexandria, VA: CSWE; Introduction to Social Welfare and Social Work: The U.S. in Global Perspective (2006), Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.  Most recently, she has published Women and the Criminal Justice System (2007) co-authored with Clemens Bartollas, and the two volume set: Human Behavior and the Social Environment, Micro Level, and Human Behavior and the Social Environment, Macro Level with Oxford University Press, 2007. The macro text was co-authored with Fred Besthorn and Thomas Keefe.

Today she teaches social work at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

Graduate Courses
HBSE 450:226
Social Welfare Policy 450:244

Undergraduate Courses
Addictions Treatment 450:171g
Social Welfare: A World View 450:041
Both available by correspondence. Call 319-273-2123

Contact van Wormer at vanworme@uni.edu