Jared Israel Best, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology Anthropology Social Work and Criminal Justice

Jared (he/they) joins Seton Hall University’s Bachelor of Social Work Program in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work and Criminal Justice. Jared was teaching at Portland State University since 2015 in multiple programs including Child, Youth, and Family Studies and PSU’s BSW and MSW programs. Jared has taught across the social work curriculum including sexualities and family studies, research and evaluation, human behavior across the lifespan, generalist practice, and trauma-informed mental health practice.

The majority of Jared's work in the field has been with disenfranchised youth including homeless and runaway youth as well as youth in juvenile justice and foster care systems. Jared also has several years of clinical social work experience in private practice with youth, adults, couples, and family systems. Jared’s research has mostly focused on young people aging out of foster care and more recently sexualities education in social work curricula. Jared’s interests also include abolitionist perspectives on child welfare, discourses of disenfranchised youth, and more critical and radical possibilities within the field of social work.