Child, Youth, and Family Studies Major: A Multidisciplinary Education

CYFS Info Page
CYFS Information for Majors (Canvas Module)
Fall Courses

Interested in studying abroad? Learn more about the program, explore available opportunities, and sign up for an upcoming information session through PSU Study Abroad. 

This faculty-led program examines youth social work and educational practice in Germany through an immersive academic experience in Berlin. Students will explore how German approaches to youth development, social pedagogy, and community-based services differ from those commonly used in the United States. Through lectures, classroom observations, organizational site visits, and cultural engagement, participants will develop a comparative understanding of youth services and the broader social conditions shaping young people's lives.

The program leverages Portland State University's exchange relationship with Hochschule für Sociale Arbeit und Pädagogik (HSAP: University of Applied Sciences in Social Work and Education), allowing students direct access to German faculty, students, and youth-serving organizations. Guided by faculty expertise in youth work and comparative social services, students will critically examine international perspectives while reflecting on their own developing professional identities. Education and social service intervention with youth and young adults takes many different forms across the globe. Germany in particular has a robust tradition of youth educational and social service delivery, and Berlin is an internationally recognized hotspot of youth culture. Germany in general, and Berlin particularly, is also facing many of the same social services dynamics currently alive in the US: structural racism's effects on service delivery, cross-cultural work with large immigrant and refugee communities, poverty, substance use, and mental health.

Through existing exchange relationships with HSAP, students will have access to first-hand introductions to youth services in Berlin. We will attend lectures and conduct class observations/participation in HSAP child and youth welfare courses, as well as invited tours and site visits to partner organizations providing services to youth. Cultural exchange activities are also included. Gaining exposure to international contexts provides students with deeper understandings of the social and material conditions of young people around the world, and seeing alternate ways of approaching youth policy and services helps students think more critically and creatively about our own domestic approaches to these same issues.

We will also do fun stuff in and around Berlin! It's an extraordinary city with a population of over 3 million. There's a ton to do and see, and we will have a first-hand seat to all of it.

Although details are still being finalized, we plan to be in Berlin from September 21-29, 2027. Students can use financial aid to cover the costs of the trip, and you'll earn 4 credits that can be applied as electives in any of the SSW's undergraduate majors or minor.

Dr. Staci B. Martin - Working Symposium on Refugee & Migrant Education

Dr. Staci B. Martin and several colleagues recently presented a working paper on South-to-South Knowledge Mobilization Arts-based Research at the Working Symposium on Refugee and Migrant Education, held at Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, USA. The symposium brought together voices from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. It focused on displacement in places like Kenya, Malawi, Jordan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and the Rohingya crisis. Many of the authors, including members of the Afghan Female Tactical Platoon and scholars from Elimisha Kakuma, are themselves refugees or displaced persons, ensuring that lived experience shapes the academic conversation.

The symposium used a different session format to encourage active collaboration. Instead of long presentations, authors who shared their papers in advance spent the first three minutes to:

• Highlight specific areas where they welcome feedback.

• Note how they hope to further develop their arguments.

• Indicate connections between their paper and broader symposium themes.

Instead of giving a traditional research paper presentation, Dr. Martin wrote a short essay about her research process, highlighting the three areas mentioned above. She used the 1980s film Planes, Trains, and Automobiles as a framework. Her paper is called “Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and Matatus.” Here is an excerpt from her talk.

Are you interested in serving as a Student Representative in the CYFS? 

The School of Social Work values student input and participation on SSW committees. Duties: attending CYFS Team meeting once a month. These committees influence policies, practices, faculty training, and curriculum, in addition to other school-wide functions. Interested? Please email: cyfs@pdx.edu, looks great on your resume

CYFS Students Resources: 

The Learning Center at PSU https://www.pdx.edu/learning-center/ has academic coaching, D2L support, tutoring and a variety of tools to help you find success in your studies. These programs are free and remote this term.

The library at PSU provides a number of academic supports for students, including long term loans of Chromebooks and other equipment. You can find out more about their Spring services here  https://library.pdx.edu/services/library-services-2021/

Your CYFS  faculty is also here if you have questions or concerns. Please feel free to contact your instructors, stop in during their virtual office hours, or visit me on Tuesdays from 3-4 at https://pdx.zoom.us/j/86438158970 .We are not together in person yet, but we are here.
 

This SSW Undergraduate Programs newsletter will be the place to look for current information and events throughout the term. It will appear at the beginning and middle of each month.  If you have any information you would like to share with your fellow students, you can do by submitting it to sswundergrad@pdx.edu 

Previous newsletter information: Link to previous newsletter information here

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