Katherine Ramsland, Class of 1978
Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology and behavioral criminology in the graduate program at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, where she is the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence. After graduating from NAU with a double major in Psychology and Philosophy, she went on to earn a master’s degree in clinical psychology at Duquesne University, and then to Rutgers for a PhD in Philosophy. She taught in the Philosophy Department at Rutgers for 15 years.
Ramsland then went back to school at the esteemed John Jay College of Criminal Justice to get a master’s Degree in forensic psychology, which prepared her for a teaching job at DeSales University. There she received master’s degrees, separately, in criminal justice and fine arts in creative writing. She became department chair for the social sciences, then director of the Master’s Program in Criminal Justice at DeSales. She also served as an assistant provost until her transition to the Center for Teaching Excellence. NAU and John Jay have both honored Ramsland as a Distinguished Alumna, and in 2023 she received the Provost’s Award for professional development from DeSales University.
Ramsland has appeared as an expert in Criminal Psychology on more than 200 crime documentaries and television shows, is an executive producer of Murder House Flip, and has consulted for CSI, Bones, and The Alienist.
She is the author of more than 1,800 articles and blogs, and 72 books, including:
The Serial Killer’s Apprentice,
The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds,
The Psychology of Death Investigations,
and Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, The BTK Killer.
She was co-executive producer for the Wolf Entertainment/A&E four-part documentary about Rader which was based on the years she spent talking with him about his crimes.
Dr. Ramsland currently consults on death investigations, pens a regular blog for Psychology Today that has been running since 2012, and writes a fiction series based on a female forensic psychologist who manages a private investigation agency.
She attributes much of her career success and the drive to continually expand her education to the NAU Philosophy Department faculty who encouraged her during her time on campus between 1974 and 1978.