Sociology professor describes work experience
By Taryn Geselowitz
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Patricia Gilbert, a sociology professor at Cal State Long Beach and a social
worker at the Department of Mental Health in downtown Long Beach, shared her
academic and work experience she went through to achieve a profession in social
work.
Gilbert’s academic career started at UC Irvine, where she studied social
ecology.
“
It was a new program at the university,” Gilbert said. “They didn’t
even call it a major. When I got my diploma it said ‘program in social
ecology’ on it.”
Social ecology, an experimental program for UCI at the time, used ecological
models to explain certain social and political systems. The social ecology program
allowed Gilbert to take post-graduate courses as an undergraduate. In compliance
with the program’s demands, she interned at Orange County’s juvenile
hall.
“
That was not my world,” Gilbert said, “I learned a lot from those
kids.”
She graduated from UCI in three years and then went to USC to receive her doctorate.
Gilbert also obtained a post-doctoral fellowship in psychiatry. With her doctorate,
she went to teach sociology at Occidental College, a small liberal arts college
in
Los Angeles. After leaving Occidental, Gilbert did market research for a public
relations company.
She was looking for a cross between public service and teaching. She came to
CSULB to teach psychology on campus and work as a social worker at the Department
of Mental Health. For the first 18 years, Gilbert worked in patients’ rights,
often responding to patients who had been abused by their caretakers. Now she
works in administration at the department’s headquarters.
When asked whether she felt her background work experience was essential to attaining
the position she is in now, Gilbert said “maybe it was not necessary, but
it was interesting.” She explained the quality of teaching that comes from
professors with “world experience rather than straight out of school. Both
have something to bring to the table. It would be nice to have some balance.”
Courtney Belzano, a second year Women’s Studies major and a student in
Gilbert’s social trends and problems course, said her teaching methods
are beneficial to her students. “There is a lot of information to learn,” Courtney
said. “Her lectures summarize and elaborate on our readings and allows
for a lot of participation and in-class questions.”
Gilbert used the services of Head Start, as an example of the other dynamics
of social work or teaching professions. Head Start gives children meals, in addition
to education.
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