Suzanna Smith, Ph.D.

is Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Relations in the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences at the University of Florida. She has been at the University of Florida since 1988. She has a Ph.D. in Child and Family Development, a Master's Degree in Social Work and a B.A. in Sociology.

Dr. Smith teaches graduate and undergraduate courses pertaining to family life. Her courses emphasize not just the challenges families face but also family resiliency and community supports for families going through hard times. She is a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE), as awarded by the National Council on Family Relations. Through the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Dr. Smith supports outreach programs on parents and families at all life stages. These educational programs focus on marital preparation, couples communication, parenting, and caregiving. Dr. Smith has experience as a caseworker with youth and families in need; and as a human services trainer for public assistance, child welfare, and runaway shelter professionals in the southeastern states.

Dr. Smith's research has focused on economic transitions in families' lives and the impacts on women and their families. She has extensive experience conducting in-depth interviews with families who are enduring unemployment and financial hardships, or entering job training or new occupations.

Her international work has included research and training programs in Korea, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Haiti, as well as coursework on global issues with international and domestic students and faculty at UF. She is working on the second edition of Families in Multicultural and Global Perspective , which will be published by Sage in 2005.

Dr. Smith lives with her lively and loving spouse and daughter. On a daily basis, she and her spouse discover the meaning of truly equitable partnership in work and family life.

http://fycs.ifas.ufl.edu/smith.htm