Katharine Hill

Katharine Hill serves as Professor in the School of Social Work within the Morrison Family College of Health at the University of St. Thomas, concurrently holding the administrative role of Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement and Research. She oversees faculty development, grants management, sponsored programs, and the Institutional Review Board while advancing university-wide diversity and inter-professional initiatives.

Her academic credentials include:

• PhD and MSW from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• BA from Macalester College

Dr. Hill's research pioneers political social work, focusing on nonpartisan voter engagement among college students and marginalized populations, alongside advocacy for children with disabilities in child welfare systems. Her work integrates macro practice with policy analysis, emphasizing community-based interventions, program evaluation, and nonprofit administration to cultivate social workers as change agents.

Her 2018 publications reveal a concentrated research trajectory bridging voter mobilization and child welfare policy, demonstrating how educational settings can drive civic participation while addressing systemic inequities for vulnerable youth. These works establish social work's critical role in democratic engagement and policy reform.

Key recognitions include:

• Distinguished Early Career Grant for voter engagement research
• Campus Election Engagement Project funding for student voter mobilization
• President’s Civic Engagement Stewardship Award for institutionalizing civic mission

As former BSW Program Director and School of Social Work Director, Dr. Hill has shaped curriculum and mentored students through high-impact initiatives like the voter engagement project, where she supervises student fellows in nonpartisan registration drives and ballot education. Her grant leadership spans competitive internal funding and national partnerships advancing civic participation.

She spearheads St. Thomas' voter engagement ecosystem through the Center for the Common Good, collaborating with Campus Election Engagement Project to implement campus-wide voting initiatives that connect students with electoral processes through value-aligned civic education.