This week we are speaking with Rich Tolman. Rich will share his rich history of his work in the movement to end domestic violence by focusing his research and work with those who perpetrate the intimate partner abuse.

Rich Tolman

Richard M. Tolman is the Sheldon D. Rose Collegiate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan and an American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare Fellow. He is currently a steering committee member of the National Battering Intervention Program Network and co-chairs the NBIPN Research committee. Rich's life work focuses on prevention and intervention to end gender-based violence (GBV). He began this work as a practitioner in a battering intervention program in Anchorage Alaska in 1980. Subsequently he worked in BIPs in Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan. He helped to set BIP standards in both Illinois and Michigan. He was an author of one of the earliest books on battering intervention- Edleson, J. L., & Tolman, R. M. (1992). Intervention for men who batter: An ecological approach. Sage Publications, Inc.

His contributions to the domestic violence literature include the development of a widely used measure of psychological maltreatment of women, demonstrating the accuracy of survivors’ predictions of future abuse, research on how intimate partner violence impacts low-income women’s economic, physical and psychological well-being, and adolescent intimate partner violence. Rich co-led a research team that conducted a series of global studies on men’s involvement in prevention of GBV.

His current projects include research on survivors' perspectives on the effectiveness of battering intervention, campus sexual assault prevention, the prevention of abuse during pregnancy, and relatedly, on supporting men to be positive partners and parents.