Dr. Sylvia M. Asay is serving as a Fulbright Specialist at the Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, with the Psychology Department, Centre for Public Mental Health from January 5-18, 2020. During her time there, she had several opportunities to contribute her expertise to the department, the government, and the public. She was invited to meet with the Governor of Yogyakarta, Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, and some government officials of the Yogyakarta province to discuss family strengthening, a current government policy initiative. She also met with the Deputy of Family from the National Family Planning Body and his staff for a consultation on the framework for a new government program on family happiness/well-being. She gave a lecture to the students in the Psychology Department on Family Violence. She provided a two-day workshop for government officers from the region to introduce the Family Strength Framework and its potential for use in Family Life Education, Family Therapy, and Family Services. She also provided a two-day workshop for researchers and psychologists for training in using the Family Strengths Framework in their work.
As a doctoral student, Dr. Asay began a journey of learning about and researching family strengths. Her research on family strengths in post-communist Eastern Europe has been published in books and journals and eventually led her and co-author, Dr. John DeFrain to expand the Family Strengths framework and develop the International Family Strengths model to encompass a more global focus. This model has been described in numerous publications and presentations including Strong Families around the World: Strengths-Based Research and Perspectives and Family Violence from a Global Perspective: A Strengths-Based Approach. As a result of her work, Dr. Asay served as a consultant in conducting research as well as shaping government policy with the Doha International Family Institute (DIFI) in Doha, Qatar from 2015-2019 and was invited to Mexico by the National System for Integral Family Development (DIF) Office, to consult about the Family Strengths framework in 2011.
Dr. Asay began teaching at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1991. She currently holds the rank of tenured professor and served as the department chairperson from 2010-2018. She is a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) through the National Council on Family Relations. She is known for her teaching focus on the Family Strength perspective. She has published several pedagogical articles within her discipline and is a co-author for a successful textbook, Family Resource Management, in its 3rd edition.
