St. Catherine University is home to faculty who live out its mission every day — faculty like Pa Der Vang, PhD, associate professor of social work and endowed mission chair for the liberal arts. Vang, whose research focuses on the experience of Hmong American immigrants, is a passionate advocate for leadership development in the Hmong community. She helped establish the University’s Critical Hmong Studies minor, created the Minnesota Hmong Social Workers’ Coalition, and co-hosted the fifth Bi-annual International Conference on Hmong Studies on campus in 2019. Vang also co-founded Hnub Tshiab: Hmong Women Achieving Together, a St. Paul-based nonprofit, and through her work with this organization was invited to give the keynote speech at the Minnesota Hmong New Year Celebrations in 2017. In 2020, an anthology she edited, Staring Down the Tiger: Stories of Hmong American Women, was published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.
Her work and advocacy is wide-ranging — recently, she served as faculty senate president during the University’s recent reaffirmation of accreditation. Through it all, Vang centers service and community. She speaks passionately about the value of a liberal arts education like that offered by St. Kate’s, noting the importance of educating students who embrace diversity and social responsibility.
“St. Kate’s opened doors for women,” said Vang in the 2022 fall issue of St. Catherine University Magazine. “Now we are opening doors for other communities who historically did not have access to education.”