The Steve Hicks School of Social Work mourns the loss of Lori Holleran Steiker, Ph.D., ACSW, who died on September 22, 2024, after living with metastatic cancer for several years.

Dr. Holleran Steiker served as the Steve Hicks Professor of Addiction, Recovery and Substance Abuse Services and Associate Director of Education and Training at the Addiction Research Institute. She had been a pillar at the Steve Hicks School since 2000 and served in faculty appointments at the UT Dell Medical School Department of Psychiatry, as well as the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Family and Community Medicine. She also held an administrative position in the School of Undergraduate Studies as Director of Instruction, Engagement and Wellness, and was a beloved teacher in the classroom.

“When you think of exceptional teachers in our school, not to mention, exceptional people, you think of Lori Holleran Steiker,” said Allan Cole, Dean of SHS. “She is the teacher that teachers aspire to be, the researcher that researchers aspire to be, and the authentic and courageous individual we aspire to be. Her impact on students will last for decades to come, and her national leadership in research, education, and advocacy related to substance use disorders will continue to impact innumerable lives. Lori has been a significant contributor to the Steve Hicks School as well as The University of Texas at Austin, in making this community a special, meaningful, and supportive one. I am grateful to have known such an extraordinary leader and person. Lori lived with enviable authenticity, full of profound love for others, and her example helped make the world better.”

Dr. Holleran Steiker won dozens of teaching awards, including the Tower Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award, the UT System’s Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the Texas Exes Teachers Excellence Award, and the Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award for Excellence, among others. Her induction into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers in occurred in 2012, and throughout her career, the Council on Social Work Education and Society for Social Work & Research recognized Lori’s accomplishments and contributions.

She was particularly committed to the BSW students and their successful growth as professionals. Each semester, 150 first-year students enrolled in her Undergraduate Signature Course, “Young People and Drugs.” She also taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of groups, families, and substance misuse. She also served as the Assistant Dean for Undergraduates in the School of Social Work from 2009 to 2012 and she continually served in an advisory role for the UT Center for Students in Recovery.

She conducted research funded by federal and state agencies as well as foundations and was known especially for her expertise in community-based adolescent and emerging adult substance use recovery. She facilitated the adaptation and evaluation of the keepin’ it REAL (kiR) project for youth in a variety of community settings including LGBTQ youth at OutYouth, low-income housing youth at YMCA, alternative school settings, LifeWorks Homeless Youth Shelter, SCAN advocacy program for border youth in Laredo, TX, and Gardner Betts with incarcerated youth and youth on probation.

She also spearheaded overdose prevention and response initiatives on the University of Texas campus, helped start OperationNaloxone.org, and served a Co-PI on the Texas Targeted Opioid Response (TTOR) to study the opioid crisis in Texas and prevent drug overdoses. She was the founder and a board member of University High School (Central Texas’s first recovery high school) and has served as the faculty liaison for the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Students in Recovery since its inception in 2004. At the time of her death, she was a member Texas Opioid Abatement Council, tasked with distributing resources to ameliorate the effects of the opioid crisis.

She published more than one hundred peer-reviewed publications and three books, including Youth and Substance Use:  Prevention, Intervention and Recovery (2016)., Substance Abusing Latinos: Current Research on Epidemiology, Prevention and Treatment, and Signature Course Stories: Transforming Undergraduate Education.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in central New Jersey, Dr. Holleran Steiker graduated as a proud valedictorian from Hightstown High School in 1983. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Honors English from Duke University and her MSW from The University of Pennsylvania. She trained by Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic in Family Therapy and worked as a clinical psychiatric social worker and addictions therapist with adolescents and adults for a dozen years before receiving her Ph.D. from Arizona State University.

A memorial service celebrating Lori’s life will take place at the UT Alumni Center on Sunday, September 29th at 10:30 am, with a reception to follow.