Dr. Sharon Bowland is the Faculty Chair of the UNT Department of Social Work. She is a licensed clinical social worker who worked in community mental health for over 20 years before obtaining her doctorate. She specializes in recovery approaches with survivors of  domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.

Her research engages older women and African American women. She has conducted community-based participatory research in a low-income housing community. She is interested in the cumulative effects of trauma over the life course and ways to infuse trauma-informed approaches into systems of care.