Preston Osborn came to work as an assistant professor at UMD in the Department of Social Work in the fall of 2024.
Why did you choose to work at UMD?
Having spent time in northern Michigan for family fishing trips growing up, the natural shores of Lake Superior immediately felt both familiar and new. I was drawn to UMD for a variety of reasons, but I think that the midsize public university gives students, faculty, and staff a wonderful balance of a smaller learning community feel paired with the broader opportunities offered by being part of an exceptional larger University of Minnesota system. I also appreciate the special aspects of the greater Twin Ports area, including the long history and connection to Dakota and Ojibwe peoples, along with the stunning natural landscape and outdoor culture here.
What do you like most about your job?
What I appreciate most about my job is the variety and autonomy of the work. The university supports me in a wide variety of research, community engagement, and professional development capacities. On a given day, I get the chance to facilitate incredibly interesting conversations with students surrounding current social issues then get to hop into analyzing data that I’ve collected to better understand social problems or social work from an empirical perspective. I also get the opportunity to work with and learn from an amazing group of talented and passionate colleagues within the UMD Department of Social Work, including the Tribal Training and Certification Partnership (TTCP).
What is your research or teaching focus?
My job is to help train social work students to competently and confidently serve vulnerable individuals, families, and communities across Minnesota and the nation. I support students that are putting an incredible amount of work into understanding social issues, their own biases, evidence-based interventions, advocating for policy change, and engaging in research to improve programs or the profession. I teach courses on human behavior, social policy, substance use, professional standards, and race, class, and gender.
My research focus is surrounding questions of how to best prepare social workers to be culturally responsive and engage in anti-oppressive practices at both clinical, organizational, and policy advocacy levels.
Do you have any advice for students?
University is a rare opportunity to be exposed to a variety of people across different backgrounds and experiences. You also get the chance to be curious and consider big ideas about a range of topics. Take the initiative to immerse yourself in environments outside of your comfort zone. Looking back after graduation, you will be glad you took advantage of those opportunities.
What do you like to do in your free time?
My favorite thing to do in my free time is 1) be with my kids, and 2) be outside. If I can be outside with my kids doing something active like hiking, running, biking, swimming, skiing, sledding, or building forts—that’s the dream! I also enjoy traveling outside of Minnesota to visit family and friends or to experience new places or cultures.