Dr. Taylor Geyton and Dr. Matthew Town
The School of Social Work is happy to announce that Taylor Geyton, Ph.D. and Matthew Town, Ph.D. have been named assistant professors in the MSW Program in the School of Social Work at Portland State University.
TAYLOR GEYTON, Ph.D.
Dr. Taylor Geyton graduated from Morgan State University, where she earned her Ph.D. in Social Work, in 2021. She was the 2020 recipient of the Council on Social Work Education's Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity Doctoral student award for her research exploring the identity formation of Black women activists. Her research interests include identity formation, intersectionality, social movements, social justice, policy evaluation, and advocacy.
Dr. Geyton holds an advanced clinical license in social work in the state of Maryland where she also operates a private therapy practice targeted specifically toward treating Black women who have experienced trauma through anti-colonial and liberation-focused frameworks.
She earned a BSW from Bary Baldwin University in 2011 with a Minor in African American Studies, and an MSW from the University of Maryland at Baltimore with clinical and macro concentrations.
Dr. Geyton is an activist through her scholarship and in her practice and is interested in developing frameworks that incorporate macro level interventions into micro level work.
In her free time she enjoys traveling, attending festivals, and wine tastings.
MATTHEW TOWN, Ph.D.
Dr. Matthew Town is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, behavioral scientist, and advocate. His academic interests include social inequality, diversity science, HIV and substance use, and population health. He is the principle investigator of the Native Access project, a NIH funded research project exploring the experience of PrEP initiation and sustained use among American Indian and Alaska Native sexual minority men. He develops and conducts courses in and facilitates trainings on equity, diversity and inclusion. He has recently taught several courses that center communities of color focusing on diversity science, health care, and anti-bias.
Matthew is not new to our PSU community. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Town earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Portland State University in 2014 and taught in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. His most recent appointment was in the Department of Public Health and Social Work at Pacific University Oregon. Prior to his work in academia, Dr. Town served as Project Director for Tribal Epidemiology Centers in Rapid City, South Dakota and Portland, Oregon partnering with Tribes on community health and prevention program.
As a long time resident of the Pacific Northwest, Matthew enjoys the outdoors including camping, hiking, and kayaking. He also enjoys obstacle course races, reading, and family.
Special thanks to our search committee: Tom Keller (search chair), Alma Trinidad, Amie Thurber, Michele Martinez Thompson, Mathew Uretsky and search coordinator, John Barnett.
Please join us in welcoming Taylor and Matthew to the School of Social Work!