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Vithya Murugan, Ph.D., M.S.W.

Associate Professor; Social Work
School of Social Work

B.S.S.W. Program Director

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Office Hours

By appointment

Courses Taught

Introduction to Social Work (B.S.S.W.)

Education

• Ph.D., Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis
• M.S.W., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Practice Areas

Domestic violence/sexual assault

Research Interests

domestic violence, sexual assault, community-based participatory research

Publications and Media Placements

1. Murugan, V. (2022). Intimate Partner Violence in an Orthodox Jewish Community in the United States: A Qualitative Exploration of Community Members’ Perspectives. Violence against women, 10778012221120444.
2. Termos, M., Murugan, V., & Helton, J. J. (2022). IPV and Health Consequences Among CPS-Involved Caregivers: A Fixed Effects Analysis Stratified by Race and Ethnicity. Violence Against Women, 28(6-7), 1610-1630.
3. Murugan, V., Mahapatra, N., Rai, A., & Rijhwani, L. (2022). South Asian Women’s Organizations: An Exploratory Study of Workers’ Perceptions on Intimate Partner Violence-Related Help-Seeking. Journal of Family Violence, 1-13.

Media Placements

1. Ruff, C. (2021, September 8). Missouri businesses now must grant unpaid leave for survivors of domestic or sexual violence. https://news.stlpublicradio.org/economy-business/2021-09-08/missouri-businesses-now-must-grant-unpaid-leave-for-survivors-of-domestic-or-sexual-violence
2. Drake, K. (2021, March 7). Domestic abuse agency starts texting hotline in St. Louis area to help victims. https://news.stlpublicradio.org/coronavirus/2021-03-07/domestic-abuse-agency-starts-texting-hotline-in-st-louis-area-to-help-victims

Honors and Awards

• Faculty Fellow, Faculty Success Program, National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, Funded by: Saint Louis University
• Faculty Fellow, Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) Institute, California State University, Long Beach, Funded by: National Institute of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Research Education Grant R25GM121266
• 2021-2022 The Terry Leet Award for Teaching Excellence, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University

Professional Organizations and Associations

• Council for Social Work Education
• Society for Social Work and Research

Community Work and Service

Dr. Murugan lives and works in St. Louis. Therefore, she believes it is both a privilege and a responsibility to serve her community. She served as a program evaluator for the Show Me Costa Rica Project from 2017-2019. The Show Me Costa Rica Project is a program based out of the St. Louis Public School (SLPS) system that seeks to bring equity to international learning experiences for high school students in under-resourced communities. Additionally, she has served as a panelist at community events related to domestic violence, sexual assault, and mental health among ethnic/minority women including at Washington University in St. Louis’s School of Medicine and the Jewish Federation. In the summer of 2019, she joined Washington University in St. Louis’s Campus Y Board. The Campus Y is the largest student-run organization dedicated to serving the St. Louis and Washington University community. Dr. Murugan is also a Board Member of the ALS Association of Saint Louis.