University of Wisconsin-Stout Polytechnic Associate Professor Candice Maier says a semester spent teaching marriage and family therapy courses in Türkiye as part of the prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program will impact her teaching and research now that she’s returned to Wisconsin.
In fact, Maier is already drawing on her experience this fall in a graduate-level course she is teaching that focuses on trauma and recovery. With her students, Maier plans to replicate research conducted by a Turkish colleague to examine how strength and resilience in the face of adversity are transmitted across generations. Students will interview their parents and grandparents, if applicable, to gather information on differences in how people identify their strengths.
Ultimately, Maier hopes the work leads to published research in conjunction with Associate Professor Yudum Söylemez, who leads the marriage and family therapy program at Istanbul Bilgi University, where Maier taught last spring.
Maier, associate professor in the M.S. marriage and family therapy program, was one of about 800 American academics chosen to teach or conduct research overseas this year as part of Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, which is funded by the U.S. State Department and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
“It was hands down the best experience of my life,” said Maier, who explained her time in Türkiye – sometimes spelled “Turkey” in English – profoundly influenced her both professionally and personally.
Between February and June, Maier lived and worked in Istanbul, the largest city in Türkiye. The metropolis of 15 million provided a sharp contrast to western Wisconsin, although despite the culture differences Maier and her family found the people incredibly kind and welcoming.
“I really loved my family therapy students,” Maier said. “They reminded me of my students from Stout.”
Maier herself is a Blue Devil alum: She graduated in 2009 with a B.S. in human development and family studies from UW-Stout Polytechnic, and she also holds a master’s degree from North Dakota State University and a doctorate from the University of Iowa.
Experience offers lessons in cultural context
Maier taught an undergraduate psychology course as well as a graduate course in children and family therapy. Working with the Turkish students gave her plenty of opportunity to reflect on how cultural context impacts the realm of therapy.
“Often I would say, ‘This is what the research shows and this research was done by Europeans or Americans. How would you say things are similar or different in a Turkish context?’” Maier recalled. “And a lot of times students would say, ‘There are some similarities, but here's how it would be different.’ ”
For example, she noted, Turkish families are frequently more hierarchical than their American counterparts. In addition, multigenerational households are more common, which means some clinical concepts, such as enmeshment – in which personal and emotionally boundaries are blurred, leading to a loss of individuality – are perceived differently across borders. Turkish families have traditionally emphasized strong intergenerational relationships and family connectedness while the influence of Westernization has changed family life to include more emphasis on individual independence.
Overall, the experience of recognizing familial differences inspired Maier to be more patient and reflective – something she hopes she can instill in future marriage and family therapists.
“I think this experience helped me to learn that it’s OK to step back and model that for students,” she said. “In our field, it is really important to slow down and to help clients, students, and supervisees sit with the unknown and the gray.”
When she wasn’t teaching family therapy, Maier was experiencing Türkiye with her own family: her husband, Joshua Sanderson, assistant coach of UW-Stout’s women’s soccer team, and the couple’s two young children. The family traveled by bus and walked around Istanbul, bringing their children to a playgroup where they met other families, attending sporting events, and otherwise making memories in the historic metropolis.
Maier, students will pursue research
Beyond these fond personal memories, Fulbright experience has had other lasting impacts as well. Maier is beginning to replicate research by Söylemez, her Turkish colleague, whose work on resiliency and trauma has focused on the impact of the February 2023 earthquake that killed an estimated 60,000 people in Türkiye and nearby Syria.
It was Maier’s previous collaboration with Söylemez – the two had co-authored an academic paper published in 2022 – that she believes helped her Fulbright application stand out.
Shortly after returning to Wisconsin in June, Maier taught an online capstone course that included both American and Turkish students, which featured Zoom discussions about topics such as collectivist versus individualistic families.
“I hope to continue those connections with their students and our students through class if possible,” Maier said.
UW-Stout Polytechnic’s counseling, rehabilitation and human services department offers three bachelor’s degrees and five master’s programs – including M.S. marriage and family therapy, M.S. clinical mental health counseling, M.S. rehabilitation counseling, M.S. school counseling, and an M.S.Ed. and Ed.S. in school psychology. The university also offers school counseling licensure programs for both educators and mental health professionals.
