Bethany began her career in the domestic and sexual violence field, spending five years working in direct-service advocacy with youth affected by interpersonal violence. This direct-service experience catalyzed her interest in understanding social work’s intersections with community organizing and movement building. Before entering into academia, Bethany worked in nonprofit development for progressive political organizations. Now, she is focused on building a research agenda interrogating the relationship between social work and law enforcement, specifically exploring anti-carceral social work practices (practices that divest from carceral systems).

Bethany earned her Master in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Arts in political science and gender, women, sexuality studies from Gustavus Adolphus College. She previously served as a board member for the National Association of Social Workers in Minnesota. She now sits on the editorial board of the journal Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work.