From 1972 to 1985, Betty P. Broadhurst taught at Colorado State University (CSU) concentrating on Human Behavior and the Environment, international social work, and field placement consultation. Broadhurst was born in 1919 and grew up in Denver. She graduated from East Denver High School in 1936. She completed her undergraduate studies by 1940 from Colorado College majoring in Psychology, German and Skiing. Scripps College also has her listed as a freshman in 1936 and on record with the Registrar's Office as being part of the class of 1940. She graduated from Smith College in 1942 with her M.S. in Psychiatric Social Work.

From 1943 to 1946 Broadhurst served in the Women's Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard and later wrote of her Coast Guard assignments in Adventures in Mental Health: Psychiatric Social Work in World War II - the unique collection of writings about different WWII social work experiences published by Columbia University Press. She went on to work at the Veterans Administration, Yale Medical Center, and Jewish Family and Children's Service, Denver.

Broadhurst was a member of the Board of the American Association of Psychiatric Social Workers from 1951 to 1953. Due to her international social work, she received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1953, which allowed her to go to Austria to the Universities of Vienna and Innsbruck to study. From 1953 to 1955 she served as an instructor and consultant at the University of Vienna School of Social Work. Broadhurst was a charter member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) founded in 1955 and was named one of its esteemed Social Work Pioneers in 1997.

Broadhurst earned her DSW certification in 1971 from Columbia University. She continued to work and study social work in Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, and New Zealand. Through her association with Servas, an international, non-profit, and non-governmental organization (NGO), Dr. Broadhurst promoted microeconomic development among tribal groups and women in particular.

From 1972 to 1985, Dr. Broadhurst taught at the University of Denver, University of Texas at Austin, and Colorado State University concentrating on Human Behavior and the Environment, international social work, and field placement consultation. Through her work at CSU, she conducted study tours to Central and South America as well as the Asia-Pacific region. Countries of interest included: Cuba, Nicaragua, Argentina, and India. She also was a guest lecturer on subjects related to social work, women, communication, social change, and health. From 1985 until 2006, she was Professor Emerita at CSU. Dr. Betty P. Broadhurst passed away December 31, 2007.