The University of Texas System is poised to honor a UT-Arlington professor with an extensive history of advocacy for left-wing environmental causes.
According to page 14 of the agenda for this week’s UT System Board of Regents meeting, Professor Karen Magruder will receive a Regents Outstanding Teaching Award.
Dr. Magruder’s profile on the UT system’s website lists “environmental justice” as a component of the “broad social service background” that “she brings to the classroom.”
A preliminary investigation into Dr. Magruder illustrates the prevalence of this content while a comprehensive investigation of Dr. Magruder would likely run over a dozen pages.
In Spring 2025, Magruder taught a class titled Environmental Justice and Green Social Work.
According to the course description, the class “explores ways that social service professionals can solve environmental justice issues on the micro, mezzo and macro level.” Another subject discussed in this course is “environmental racism.”
Learning outcomes for the course include “Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice” and “Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice.”
Her UT-Arlington profile shows Magruder has taught this class since Fall 2021.
In 2023, Magruder published an article entitled Behavioral Health Brief: Exploring the Prevalence and Treatment of Eco-Anxiety. Magruder argued that the so-called “climate crisis” has created a world where patients might “look to the future with worry and concern about what is yet to come.”
As treatment for this alleged malady, Magruder suggests “validation.” She advocates for telling patients that this worldview is not “an irrational phobia,” but that “these fears are well-founded due to a number of environmental crises, such as animal depopulation, melting glaciers, coral bleaching, and extreme weather.”
Magruder has an extensive history of writing or co-writing similar material.
She also maintains a YouTube channel, where she discusses content related to the social work profession.
In 2020, Magruder hosted a discussion on “Green Social Work” in partnership with the “climate reality project.” The video explored themes such as “environmental justice,” “climate forced” migration, and “reduc[ing] your carbon footprint.”
Magruder’s work is not the only example of far-left content in the social work programs of UT system institutions. Texas Scorecard has previously reported on how the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at UT-Austin requires students to take a Foundations of Social Justice course.
The UT System did not respond to a request for comment.
UT-Arlington and UT-Austin are both component institutions of the University of Texas System. The UT system is overseen by a Board of Regents that is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate. Kevin Eltife is the current board chairman.
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