Meredith G. F. Worthen (she/her/hers) is the Edith Kinney Gaylord Presidential Professor of Sociology and Sexualities/LGBTQ Studies scholar with key interdisciplinary interests in stigma, prejudice, and Queer Criminology (especially Critical Criminology and Victimology). She is currently (2025) ranked #2 in Human Sexuality, #7 in Social Policy, #19 in Sociology, and #25 in Critical Criminology by ScholarGPS. She is well known for her creation of Norm-Centered Stigma Theory (NCST) and groundbreaking research in this area. She is also a social justice activist for the LGBTQ community, especially through her creation of The Welcoming Project, and an advocate for survivors of sexual assault through her work as #MeTooMeredith. As a researcher, teacher, and activist, she dissects multiple dimensions of prejudice in efforts to cultivate understanding, empathy, and social change.
Dr. Worthen is a co-founder and previous co-chair of the Division on Queer Criminology, a division of the American Society of Criminology. She is also an Associate Editor of Deviant Behavior. Her latest book, Interrogating the Use of LGBTQ Slurs: Still Smearing the Queer? is part of the Queering Criminology and Criminal Justice Routledge book series.
Dr. Worthen received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009 and joined the University of Oklahoma faculty in the fall of 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and affiliate faculty member of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies and the Center for Social Justice. In 2014, she was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor. In 2019, she became the youngest Full Professor at the University of Oklahoma and was featured in The Norman Transcript.
