Pam Bowers

Pam Bowers is a Professor and Director of the MSW Program at Cal Poly Humboldt's Department of Social Work. She holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Arlington, an MSW from the University of Denver, and a BASW from San Francisco State University. Her research focuses on social work professional identity development, community-based participatory research (CBPR) for social justice, and integrating technology into social work education. She has extensive experience in public health advocacy, LGBTQ+ health justice, and addressing homelessness among youth and college students.

Dr. Bowers has taught at Cal Poly Humboldt since [year not specified], previously at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Texas at Arlington. Her work emphasizes culturally adapted interventions for marginalized populations, including Indigenous communities and transgender/gender non-conforming individuals. She has developed innovative educational tools like gamified simulations for ICWA compliance and service-learning models for addressing youth homelessness.

Her research outputs explore resilience in homeless college students, LGBTQ+ health disparities, and the intersection of substance abuse with trauma among women. She actively engages in curriculum development, emphasizing technology integration and experiential learning strategies such as Photovoice and peer support networks in rural social work education.