Jennifer Skuza

Associate dean and Minnesota 4-H state director

In addition to her roles as associate dean and state 4-H director, Dr. Jennifer A. Skuza is a core faculty member in the University of Minnesota’s Youth Development Leadership master’s program in the College of Education and Human Development. She is also the principal investigator on a five-year federal grant from the USDA Children, Youth, and Families At Risk (CYFAR); it is focused on building educational pathways with adolescents.

Jennifer holds a PhD in education from the University of Minnesota and studied international education at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic as a part of her doctorate program. Her research is on immigrant and refugee adolescents, global youth citizenship, early adolescence learning and program development.  Her main research methodology is phenomenology.

On a personal note, Jennifer is a long distance runner and Nordic skier. She and her transnational family spend time between the US and Nicaragua. Find her at @jennifer_skuza

Academic degrees and experience

• Ph.D., work, community, and family education, University of Minnesota. Minor in international education, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
• M.A., intercultural communication, Saint Cloud State University.
• B.S., speech communication and human relations, Saint Cloud State University.

Selected publications

Skuza, J.A., Outley, C., (2019). Perspectives on Immigrant, Refugee, and Border Youth. Journal of Youth Development, 14(2), 1-9.

Skuza, J.A. (2019) Teens in the Somali diaspora: An evaluative program study. Journal of Youth Development, 14(2), 153-165.

Skuza, J., Russo, J., Meyer, R. (2018). A field guide to program planning in youth development. St. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota Extension. 

Skuza, J. & Russo, J. (2018). WeConnect: A global youth citizenship curriculum. 2nd ed. St. Paul: Regents of the University of Minnesota.

Skuza, J.A., Freeman, D.M, Bremseth, T.J., Doering, S.A., Quinlan, R. B., Morreim, P.A., & Deidrick, J.C. (2010). Stewardship as a means to create organizational reform: A view into Minnesota 4-H Youth Development. Journal of Extension, 48(2).

Skuza, J., & Russo, J. (2008). Capturing youth voice to assess learning in urban youth development programs. Journal of Youth Development, 2(3), 108-117.

Skuza. J. (2007). Humanizing the understanding of the acculturation experience with phenomenology. Human Studies, 30(1), 447-465.

Olson, K. Skuza, J., & Blinn, C. (2007). Extension educators' views of scholarship and performance evaluation criteria. Journal of Extension, 45(4).

Skuza, J., Cogshell, N., & Russo, J. (2007). Urban youth learn: Partnering with communities to develop effective youth programs. St. Paul: University of Minnesota.

Skuza, J., Russo, J. Gates, E. & Kawase, M. (2007). Urban youth lead: Becoming the authors of their lives. St. Paul: University of Minnesota.

Marczak, M., Dworkin, J, Skuza, J., & Beyer. J. (Winter 2006). What’s Up? What young teens and their parents want from youth programs. New Directions for Youth Development, 2006(112), 45-56.

Skuza, J. (2005). Understanding the experiences of immigrant adolescents: Acculturation is not the same as assimilation. In P. Witt & L. Caldwell (Eds.), Recreation and youth development. State College, PA: Venture.

Skuza, J. (2004). Site-based youth development programs: Reaching underserved youth in targeted communities. Journal of Extension, 42(1). 

Courses taught

• Organizational approaches to youth development
• Community: Youth development leadership
• Thinking, learning & teaching in work, community & family