Ep. 112 - What is the Child, Adolescent, and Family Studies major?

In this episode, Matt and Olga sit down with Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog, Professor and Chair of the Child, Adolescent, and Family Studies department at CSUSB. Dr. Wilcox-Herzog shares her journey from classrooms to higher education leadership and sheds light on what makes the BA in Child, Adolescent, and Family Studies a dynamic, hands-on, and career-launching experience. Tune in to find out why the CAFS major might just be the perfect fit for you!

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Transcript

Matt Markin  
Hi and welcome to another episode of the CSUSB advising podcast. My name is Matt Markin, and as always, I'm here with...

Olga Valdivia  
Advisor Olga Valdivia.

Matt Markin  
Hey Olga. And on today's episode, we get to interview our guest, and that is Dr. Amanda Wilcox, Professor and Chair of the Department of Child Adolescent and Family Studies at CSUSB. And Dr. Wilcox, welcome to the podcast.

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
Well, thank you. It's nice to be here.

Matt Markin  
And for those who may want to learn a little bit more about you before we dive into the major, can you tell us about your journey in higher ed and being at CSUSB?

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
Yeah, absolutely. So I started in the field of children when I was an undergraduate in college. So there was an infant toddler center on the UC Irvine campus. And I thought, oh, that kind of sounds like fun. I'll give that a go. And turned out that I really loved it. And then I thought, well, how can I actually make money doing this? So maybe I should be an elementary school teacher. So when I graduated with my undergraduate degree, I got a teaching credential and taught elementary school for a few years. And while I was doing that, I was also getting a master's degree in education and but every time I was doing something in elementary school or something for my classes, I just kept coming back to early childhood education. It just really was my first love. So I thought, well, maybe I'll go for some more degrees, and got this bee in my bonnet that I just want a PhD, like that would be fun. Like, I don't know who does that and why anyone would think that's a fun thing to do, but I got a big book from the library, because that's how you research things back then, and found an early childhood program at Purdue University in Indiana. So I applied, and I got in, and I moved myself and my new husband across the country, to go to school there, and got to do all the things early childhood that I love. So I got to work in their centers with infants and toddlers and preschool age children, and got my second masters and a PhD in developmental studies with a specialization in early childhood education, and then when I graduated, what I wanted to do, more than anything, was to teach college students and kind of share this passion and this love that I have with other people who want to work directly with children and families. So we hunted around, and a job was open here at Cal State, San Bernardino and I applied, and there was a lovely faculty member who is now retired. Her name is Dr. Laura Kamptner, and she's the one who called to do my initial interview. And she was just the most lovely, kind, warm, nurturing person I have ever met. And I do want to give her a shout out here, because there would not be a Department of Child, Adolescent and Family Studies here on this campus, as if it wasn't for her. She started a human development prefix and offered classes through the Psychology Department, which then became its own major, which then eventually segwayed over into being our own department. She is actually still here on campus. She does not teach anymore, but she does programs, parenting, education programs, so you can still find her around. But truly, the reason I'm here on this campus is because of her. It could have been some other campus, but I just couldn't imagine myself anywhere else. And after 25 years here as a coyote, I am very happy to be here and definitely plan to finish my career out here on this campus.

Olga Valdivia  
Thank you so much for that. You know, all of these years being here on campus, I didn't know that that's where department stemmed from. So I think that's so cool. So thank you for that. Now my question is, how would you describe the Child, Adolescent and Family Studies major?

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
So basically, anything that you want to do with children and families, we're the place to start. So we have two undergraduate concentrations that students can choose from. So they can choose to focus on early child development, which would be children age zero through age eight, or they can focus on child and adolescent development, which would be children age through early adulthood. So it really just depends on what students are primarily interested in, what age group they see themselves working with. So that would be at the undergraduate level, we have those two concentrations that students can choose from, and then at the graduate level, we have a master's in child adolescent. And Family Studies, which is an evening program that is again designed for folks who want to do something with children and families but want a more advanced degree in that topic.

Olga Valdivia  
Let me follow up with minors. I'm sure we have a minor in the major. And so if I if I have a student who is interested in child development, but not totally sure if they want to major or minor. What would be your recommendation?

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
You know, I think it really depends. And yes, thank you. I've kind of forgot about the minors. So we do have three minor options. So students can minor in early childhood development, they can minor in child and adolescent development. And then we have a general track which kind of mixes the two ages, and then also includes statistics and research methods. So kind of the, you know, the whole major kind of in one little package, you know, I think a lot of it depends on where you start your journey. So if you start as a first time freshman and you have interest again in anything related to children and families, I would suggest, you know, choosing a major with us, because we're a good pivot point. And you know for pretty much any career that you want to do, or any graduate program you want to go to. So you know, probably just better to start with us and stay with us. If you've been somewhere else, though, on campus and you decide that you have an interest in children and families, I think the minor is a great option. So a lot of students in psychology, so let's say you're a psychology student and you really are interested in doing therapy with children down the line, we would be a great minor to add on so that you're not just learning about therapeutic techniques, but you're also learning about the children that you might be interested in serving students going through Liberal Studies. So they want to teach elementary school, but maybe they want to teach preschool or transitional kindergarten in an elementary school, and they can't unless they have 24 units of child development. So if they pick up a minor with us, then they'll get those 24 units. So I think it just depends on, you know, what you see yourself doing, where you started in this process. Another thing I do like to point out is that we're fully aligned with the associate degrees for transfer at the community college that are appropriate to our major. So there are two. There's a child development transfer degree, and there's also an early childhood education transfer degree, and more fully aligned with both so easy to come here from somewhere else.

Matt Markin  
Awesome. And yeah, like we're coming off the heels as of this recording of our in person transfer orientations. And I know some students have asked questions about that the associate degree for transfer. So it's great to know that. And kind of going back to the bachelor's degree, you know, there's some bachelor's degree programs that are very much lecture based, so kind of all knowing about theory, and then other bachelor's degree programs that have the theory and practice, or there's other learning experiences. Katie talk more about like, what students might be learning or doing, and of course, again, saying, like in every single class, but generally speaking, in classes, what's kind of involved in your major?

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
Yeah, absolutely. And a super important question, you absolutely have to do things with children and families to be able to understand the things we're talking about. So we do have traditional lecture courses, but we also have observation lab and an internship course. We call it advanced practicum. So we start out by having students do some observation and some of their lower level classes, and then they would move on to going to do lab hours. So that would potentially be at the Children's Center or the infant toddler lab school here on campus, if they're focusing on early childhood development, if they're focusing on older children, that would be community based placements with elementary or middle school, high school age students. And then finally, at the end, we have advanced practicum where students would be going out into community agencies. And so we try to give you age graded experience first, and then we give you professional setting experience. So you know, if you're really interested in counseling, we try and place you in a counseling facility. If you're interested in social work, we try and make sure that you go that direction for your advanced practicum. If you want to teach, we try and make sure you're in a school so making sure that students have the tools that they need to understand the content that we're delivering in lecture, but also building those important skills for a graduate program, for a career once they are done with their degree, with us and at our graduate level. And as I'm thinking about this, a lot of our graduate students want to teach college themselves. So we do have a set of courses that we allow our graduate. Graduate students to teach so that they have some experience before they leave. And I'm very proud to say that our program is very successful. Almost all of the community colleges in this area have somebody there who came through our master's program and is now either a part time instructor or a full time instructor at many of the local community colleges.

Olga Valdivia  
That's always so awesome to hear, because it's like that 360 ,right? You started here, and now you're, you're doing that so...

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
And they go out and promote us too, which is great, you know?

Olga Valdivia  
Yeah, that's, that's something that happens, right? And I think it's beautiful to see people on their journey. So this next question is more so about the careers in this field. And so as you already mentioned, you know, there's not one particular field, but can you talk to us a little bit about the fields that you do see a majority of students moving into?

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
Yes, so just one quick plug here too. We do have an intro to the major course. It's called CAFS 2200 so if anybody is interested in the cafs major, I would really encourage them to take this course. It's a one unit online course, and some of it is about advising, but the majority of the class is about things that you can do with a degree in Child Adolescent and Family Studies. So the more popular ones. So obviously, we can't do everything in that class, but we do hit the popular ones. So teaching definitely very popular, both Early Childhood, Elementary School, special education. Another popular one is child life. So this would be folks working in a hospital setting, not as medical personnel, but as personnel who help children and families as they're going through procedures. A lot of our students are interested in social work or clinical counseling. Some of them become school psychologists or counselors in the schools trying to think of some of the other biggies. A nice one right now is actually Speech and Language Pathology. The English department has a minor in Speech and Language Pathology, so that's a great add on to our degree. For students who might be interested in that field, some go into what's called positive youth development, or positive youth organizing, so working at camps or, you know, as kind of activities directors with young people, so all kinds of, yeah, parent education, just all kinds of neat things that you can do.

Matt Markin  
So let's say we have, like, an undeclared student, or student that's in a major, but they're like, I don't know if I still want to be in this major, but I'm thinking about maybe something in this area that CAFS 2200 would be a great course to recommend to that student?

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
Yes, well, and another thing I really like about our major is, you know, I'm not going to lie, if you want to be a social worker. You can major with us, you can major in social work, you can major in sociology. So it's not like you don't have choices. But I think one of the good parts about the CAFS major is that if you just know that you're interested in children and families, we really are an excellent pivot point for just about anything. And we offer coursework in all different kinds of facets of children and families. So if you're not really sure, but you just know, in general, I like kids. I like working with parents. We're going to give you a little bit of everything. And we also have faculty who have done a variety of professional things, both before they came to Cal State San Bernardino, and they're still actively doing projects and research in the community, so they have wisdom to share from the professional things that they've done, and they also have a lot of opportunities for our students to get involved so that they really can get their feet wet and find out what They really like while they're here. So I just think we're kind of like a good jack of all trades so that you don't have to pick right away, but we're giving you the tools to do all kinds of things when you graduate.

Matt Markin  
That definitely sounds like that. Now, of course, there's probably misconceptions that students or anyone might have about certain majors. So are there any when someone might hear Child, Adolescent, Family Studies...any misconceptions that you think you would want to address?

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
So I think a big one is, well, it's kind of funny, because I think a big one is, oh, you just want to be a teacher. And there is no shade to teachers, because I already told you that I was a teacher before I became a professor. It is a noble and wonderful profession, but it's not the only thing that you can do with our degree. But then it's kind of funny, because I think sometimes I hear, Oh, if you want to be a teacher, you should not pick child, you know, Child, Adolescent and Family Studies. You have to go to liberal studies. You don't have to go to liberal studies. You can. Absolutely come to us and be a teacher, no problem. I would say another one. And this one honestly makes me a little wee bit sad. But I think sometimes when you hear things like children and families, it sounds real warm and fuzzy and that, you know, maybe it's an easy major. And, you know, I think we're a good major, and I think we are interesting, and we are a great place to learn, and we have fabulous faculty who are wonderfully supportive in the things that they do. But it is a science. It's part of the Social Sciences College, and we talk about research, and we talk about science, and we have faculty who are heavily engaged in the research that they do, and we bring research to our classes, and we share it with our students, and we expect writing and all the good things that you would do in any other major. So I just always like to caution people right? Like, it's not, don't pick us if you want, like, the easy thing, all college majors expect you to do things, including ours. 

Olga Valdivia  
So I know the university offers a lot of resources. The college offers resources, but is there anything specific that the department offers to students in terms of additional resources?

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
Yeah. So we have quite a few kind of we call them, like departmental like involvement opportunities. So there are two scholarships that are specially devoted to students in Child Adolescent and Family Studies. We have a wonderful club. It's very active. So it's the Child Development Club. There are leadership opportunities. They do philanthropy and table and do all kinds of fun activities. And these are things that are available to both students at the Palm Desert and the San Bernardino campus. We do offer a plus two program at the Palm Desert campus, so students can do their first two years at a community college, and then they can come to us for the final two years in early childhood development, and we want to make sure that they have equal access as the San Bernardino campus students. We have an honors program so our like, as I was saying earlier, our faculty are super involved in the research and projects that they do, and they're always looking for students to work with. And if you decide to reach out and get involved with that research and you really like it, you can be part of the Honors Program. So that's a one year seminar. And then you also get paired with a faculty mentor who helps you to do some sort of research project activity throughout the academic year that you get to present in the spring at the CSUSB Student Research Conference. So one of the things that I also wanted to highlight is that we are a really big department, so we have around 700 students, and we recognize that that's a lot, but we want to make sure that our students feel connected and that they know what's going on. So we have a lot of efforts in that area to make sure that they know about these opportunities and just other things that we're doing. So we have open houses every semester, although at the Palm Desert campus, we only do open house in the fall because we have a smaller number of students coming in in the spring, but we do open house, and during the open house, the faculty are there to share their research and projects, all the different things that we have available. So the master's program, the Child Development club, the Institute for Child Development and Family Relations, the two children's centers on campus. You know anything that we have available, including pizza and crafts and bingo and giveaways. We do that so that students can come by and know what opportunities and extracurricular things that they can be involved in. I also do monthly emails at least once a month, so students can expect an email just kind of what's happening, what's going on, stuff going on on campus. We use remind so we have a remind account that I send text messages to occasionally. We have Instagram for both our department and our club and our alumni that we can message via that, then we have information and advising sessions. So I do two to three open advising sessions every semester, through zoom during coyote hour. And then we also do information sessions in the evening, two to three times a semester, also through zoom, and those are various topics. So because teaching is very popular, there's usually a session on that. One of my upcoming ones I want to do is a Virtual Job Fair, because we have an amazing job fair here on campus that students should definitely go to, and they did a great job of bringing lots of child out. Lesson and Family Studies, employers to campus, but I'd love to do that same thing online, but just another way for students to connect and get information that they need. So and then our website. I do work really hard on the website, so every year I vet it and make sure that it's all sparkly and shiny and has no broken links and all the good information that's needed. So, you know, my hope, really, is that that's a one stop shop, both for current students and for students who are interested in pursuing this major.

Matt Markin  
Oh yeah, no, you definitely keep it updated. I know students that Olga and I meet with, you know, will reference the website and send them the links and show them where to go on certain things. So it's very nice.

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
You're going to like the new one even better.

Matt Markin  
Yes, amazing, but it's great hearing about all the different resources that your department offers. Thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast to tell us more about Child, Adolescent, and Family Studies.

Dr. Amanda Wilcox-Herzog  
Thank you very much for having me. It was a pleasure.