Biography—

Amy Mendenhall came to KU as an assistant professor in 2009, was promoted to professor in 2020 and has held leadership positions within the School of Social Welfare. In addition to her role as associate dean, she is founding director of the school’s Center for Community Engagement and Collaboration.

Mendenhall is an award-winning faculty member, having been honored with the Gene and Gretchen Budig Teaching Award in 2018, a KU Leading Light Award in 2014 and the Shulenburger Award for Innovation & Advocacy in Scholarly Communication in 2021. She has taken part in a variety of leadership programs and has served as an Office of Faculty Affairs Fellow and was a member of the Senior Administrative Fellows 2016-2017 cohort. Mendenhall’s scholarship focuses on child and family wellbeing. Her research record includes more than $9.5 million in grants and funded projects.

Prior to joining KU, she was a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.