Full Name
Dr. Sarah Zeller-Berkman
Job Title
Academic Director of the Youth Studies Program
Company
CUNY School of Professional Studies
Speaker Bio
Dr. Sarah Zeller-Berkman, PhD is Academic Director of the Youth Studies Program which includes a BA, MA and Advanced Certificate in Youth Studies which she developed and runs as a Distinguished Lecture. Sarah is also a founding member and director of multiple grant funded programs included a longitudinal, critical, participatory action research project called ‘The Intergenerational Change Initiative (ICI)’ and a paid gap year program for 18-24 year-olds that supports youth and community wellbeing called ‘Working the Gap’.
Prior to joining CUNY SPS, Dr. Zeller-Berkman worked on various initiatives for city government, foundations and non-profits including Mozilla Foundation, the Mayor’s Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline and the Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives. For seven years she was a director at The Youth Development Institute (YDI) where she led the Community-Youth Development Unit. She was a fellow at La Guardia Community College and taught in the Children and Youth Studies Department at Brooklyn College. She is a founding member of the Public Science Project at the CUNY, Graduate Center and continues to deeply value this community of critical participatory action researchers.
Dr. Zeller-Berkman holds a BA from Emory University and a Doctorate from CUNY Graduate Center’s Social Personality Psychology Program. She has spent the last 25 years as a practitioner, researcher, evaluator, capacity-builder, professor and scholar in the field of youth and community development/critical youth development. She has worked in partnership with young people on participatory action research projects about issues that impact their lives such as sexual harassment in schools, incarceration, parental incarceration, economic mobility, housing and high-stakes testing. She has published in the Encyclopedia of Adolescence, Current Issues in Out-of-School Time, SAGE Encyclopedia of Out-of-School Learning, Harvard Educational Review, Community, Youth, and Environment, and The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research. She is a proud board member of the National AfterSchool Association. A member of the Collaborative for Advancing Youth Development. Last, but not least, she is a mama to two wonderful beings.
Prior to joining CUNY SPS, Dr. Zeller-Berkman worked on various initiatives for city government, foundations and non-profits including Mozilla Foundation, the Mayor’s Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline and the Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives. For seven years she was a director at The Youth Development Institute (YDI) where she led the Community-Youth Development Unit. She was a fellow at La Guardia Community College and taught in the Children and Youth Studies Department at Brooklyn College. She is a founding member of the Public Science Project at the CUNY, Graduate Center and continues to deeply value this community of critical participatory action researchers.
Dr. Zeller-Berkman holds a BA from Emory University and a Doctorate from CUNY Graduate Center’s Social Personality Psychology Program. She has spent the last 25 years as a practitioner, researcher, evaluator, capacity-builder, professor and scholar in the field of youth and community development/critical youth development. She has worked in partnership with young people on participatory action research projects about issues that impact their lives such as sexual harassment in schools, incarceration, parental incarceration, economic mobility, housing and high-stakes testing. She has published in the Encyclopedia of Adolescence, Current Issues in Out-of-School Time, SAGE Encyclopedia of Out-of-School Learning, Harvard Educational Review, Community, Youth, and Environment, and The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research. She is a proud board member of the National AfterSchool Association. A member of the Collaborative for Advancing Youth Development. Last, but not least, she is a mama to two wonderful beings.
Speaking At
