Kathleen Virginia Hoover-Dempsey, emerita professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, passed away on March 24. She was 82 years old.
As an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960s, Dr. Hoover-Dempsey and her roommate became the first classmates to racially integrate student housing at the university. After graduating with her bachelor’s degree, she spent one year as a kindergarten teacher in Oakland, followed by one year living in Uganda working to improve the lives of women and children. She later earned her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
In 1973, Dr. Hoover-Dempsey began her career at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College as a professor of psychology. During her 40-year tenure, she had stints as chair of the department of psychology and human development and director of graduate studies. Her research focused on developing models to help underserved families become involved in their children’s education. She was the co-author of Working Up a Storm: Anger, Anxiety, Joy, and Tears on the Job (W.W. Norton & Co., 1988).
She retired from Vanderbilt in 2013 as an emerita professor.
Kathy Hoover Dempsey was my grandma and I miss her so much she was a beam of light in my family. If I could do anything right now is to go see her in heaven.