Every year more than 4 million women experience domestic violence in the United States. Battering is the single largest cause of injury to women, exceeding cancer deaths, muggings, and auto accidents combined. Forty-two percent of the women murdered in this country are killed by men who say they love them.

Since 1974, when social worker Ellen Rubenstein Fisher graduated with a master's degree from the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin, she has been trying to reverse the rise of domestic violence and support its victims. Through her efforts, a National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) was created in 1996 to provide help only a phone call away.

Professionals at the 24-hour National Domestic Violence Hotline receive a phone call every seven minutes. A battered woman asking how she can escape the nightmare of her marriage. A concerned man seeking options for a sister living in an abusive relationship. The hotline fields 10,000 calls a month from victims of domestic violence, as well as from their families and friends. In response, NDVH provides crisis intervention, information, and referrals to local programs, services, shelters, and legal assistance.

UT School of Social Work's Professor David Austin maintains that the National Domestic Violence Hotline "is a more coordinated, responsive, far-reaching service for victims of domestic violence than has ever existed nationwide." And he credits his former student Ellen Fisher for making it happen.

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