Kathy Mayhew holds a Ph.D. in life span development from Iowa State University, a Master of Science degree in marriage and family therapy from North Dakota State University and post-doctoral work at the University of Illinois at Chicago with the Health Research and Policy Centers. In addition, Mayhew received a degree as a registered nurse from Lutheran Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing in Minneapolis.
Her clinical experience has involved psychiatric nursing, developing and working in a crisis intervention program and working as a family therapist in a therapeutic day treatment setting with adolescents and their families.
Mayhew has thesis and dissertation advising experience for both masters and doctoral degrees. Advising graduate student research has included multiple specializations at St. Cloud State University, including graduate students in marriage and family therapy, special education, school counseling and educational leadership.
Her research experience includes, family systems and incest survivors, family financial strain and adolescent outcomes, adolescent substance use and abuse, resilience and program evaluation with military veterans. More recently, her work has involved the development of interventions for women coming out of sex trafficking.
Mayhew has also been a reviewer for several professional journals and the Surgeon General’s Report on Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People.
Mayhew has taught courses both at the graduate and undergraduate levels. These courses included, human growth and development, advanced human growth and development, family and larger systems, educational psychology, advanced graduate level statistics and research methods, and graduate measurement techniques, statistics, research methods and assessment.