Author Biography
Katherine S. van Wormer, MSSW, PhD, is professor of social work at the University of Northern Iowa. Her PhD is in sociology from the University of Georgia. Uniquely in the 1960s, van Wormer participated in two civil rights movements-one in North Carolina and one in Northern Ireland, where she taught English for several years. In the late 1980s, she moved to Norway for two years to practice alcoholism counseling. Dr. van Wormer has authored or co-authored over 20 books and 60 articles. Among the recent books she has authored or co-authored are Death by Domestic Violence: Preventing the Murders and the Murder-Suicides (2009, Praeger); Working with Female Offenders: A Gender-Sensitive Approach, (2010, Wiley & Sons); two volumes of Human Behavior and the Social Environment, Micro and Macro Levels, Second Edition (2011, Oxford University Press); and Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective, Third Edition (2012, Cengage). Her most recent books are Restorative Justice Today (2012, SAGE) and Women and the Criminal Justice System, Fourth Edition (2014, Pearson). Dr. van Wormer and her co-author have done numerous speaking engagements related to their 2012 book, The Maid Narratives: African American Domestic Workers and their Employers in the Jim Crow South (LSU Press). Bruce Thyer is currently a Professor and former Dean with the College of Social Work at Florida State University. Dr. Thyer spent the years 1987 - 2002 with the University of Georgia, where he earned the rank of Distinguished Research Professor. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. In 2012 he was elected to the Social Work Academy of the National Academies of Practice. Dr. Thyer is the founder and current editor of one of social work's premier journals, RESEARCH ON SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE, and is the author of over 250 articles, 80 chapters and he had authored or edited over 25 professional books. His research interests involve the promotion of evidence-based practice, evaluation research, applied behavior analysis, and social work theory.
