Kathleen M. Murphy
Project Director

Kathleen Murphy is a Project Director with SEDL's Disability Research to Practice (DRP) program. Her current research centers on disability and employment, with a focus on cancer and knowledge translation strategies.

Contact Information
You may contact Kathleen M. Murphy at 512-391-6541

or by using SEDL's contact form.

Areas of Expertise
  • Disability and Employment: In collaboration with the Southwest Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Center, Dr. Murphy is leading two surveys about cancer and employment-related issues: one of cancer survivors, and another of staff who provide nonmedical services at cancer clinics. Findings will be used to develop a training module for staff at TIRR Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.

Experience
Prior to joining SEDL in August 2004, Dr. Murphy was an assistant research professor at Baylor University’s Center for Community Research and Development, where she taught a graduate seminar on qualitative research methods. Previously, she was a visiting assistant professor in anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. Throughout the 1990s, her research focused on documenting how families in Mexico and those of Mexican origin living in Texas colonias manage to make ends meet.

Education
Dr. Murphy holds a BA in history and literature from Harvard University, and an MA in theology from the Graduate Theological Union’s Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California. Her PhD is in social anthropology from the University of Texas-Austin, where she also did postdoctoral research at the Center for Social Work Research. Murphy is bilingual and was an I.I.E. Fulbright Scholar at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, and a Rotary International Scholar at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

SEDL Publications

Selected External Publications
  • Murphy, K. M., Markle, M., Nguyen, N., & Wilkinson, W. (in press). Addressing the employment-related needs of cancer survivors. WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation.
  • Murphy, K. M., Westbrook, J. D., Markle, M., & Fong, C. F. (2012). Nonmedical interventions to facilitate employment for cancer survivors seeking work. The Campbell Collaboration Library. http://campbellcollaboration.org/lib/project/225/
  • Murphy, K. M., & Westbrook, J. D. (2010). Knowledge translation. In J. H. Stone & M. Blouin (Eds.), International encyclopedia of rehabilitation. Retrieved from http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/encyclopedia/article.php?id=157&language=en
  • Lein, L., Murphy, K., & Campillo, C. (2009). La maternidad y la pobreza en la frontera México-Estados Unidos: Un estudio binacional [Computer CD]. Nuevo León, Mexico: Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.
  • Murphy, K. M., Lein, L., & Brabeck, K. (2006). Contextos culturales y estructurales de la violencia doméstica de mujeres mexicoamericanas inmigrantes [Cultural and structural contexts of domestic violence among Mexican-American immigrant women]. In C. Campillo Toledano & J. G. Zúñiga Zárate (Eds.), La violencia social en Mexico y sus manifestaciones: Una aproximación multidisciplinaria [Social violence in Mexico and its manifestations: An interdisciplinary approach] (pp. 41–62). Monterrey, México: Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.
  • Murphy, K. M. (2001). Heading south: Why Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in Brownsville, Texas, cross the border into Mexico. In A. D. Murphy, C. Blanchard, & J. A. Hill (Eds.), Latino workers in the contemporary South. Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings, Vol. 34 (pp. 114–125). Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Selected Presentations
  • Murphy, K. M. (2011, July). Health care as an employment option for people with disabilities. Paper presented at the ADA National Network by DBTAC Third annual research symposium, Arlington, VA.
  • Murphy, K. M., Ohrazda, C., Markle, M., Adya, M., Nguyen, V., Wilkinson, W., & Williamson, P. (2011, April). The online “ADA Basic Building Blocks” Course: A follow-up study. Paper presented at the NARRTC annual conference, Bethesda, MD.
  • Murphy, K. M. (2010, May). A comparison of employment outcomes of Region VI DBTAC consumers by disability type, age, and gender. Paper presented at the NARRTC annual conference, Alexandria, VA.
  • Murphy, K. M. (2009, October). Employment outcomes of DBTAC consumers in Region Six. Session presented at the Fall National Council on Rehabilitation Education/Rehabilitation Services Administration/Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers Research Conference, Arlington, VA.
  • Murphy, K. M. (2009, October; 2008, September). Research III: Qualitative Research Methods. Guest lecture presented at the SW 388R3 doctoral seminar, Instructor Holly Bell, PhD, University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, Austin, TX.
  • Murphy, K. M. (2009, May). The status of knowledge translation among NIDRR grantees. Paper presented at the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (NARRTC) Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
  • Murphy, K. M. (2009, February). Work experiences of people with disabilities served by the Southwest ADA Center. Paper presented at the National Council on Rehabilitation Education Spring Conference, San Antonio, TX.
  • Herbert, K. S., Bond Huie, S. A., Buttram, J. L., Murphy, K. M., Ramos, M. A., & Vaden-Kiernan, M. (2006, April). Taking standards-based reform to the classroom: Working systemically to improve student achievement. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
  • Murphy, K. M. (2006, April). Expectations of students in high-poverty school districts: Administrators' views. Paper presented at the Southwestern Social Science Association, San Antonio, TX.
  • Murphy, K. M., Bond Huie, S., Deviney, F. P., & Ramos, M. A. (2005, March). Don’t get left behind: Educators’ expectations of students in high-poverty school districts. Paper presented at the Southwestern Social Science Association Conference, New Orleans, LA.