Ben Anderson-Nathe is a Professor in the Child, Youth, and Family Studies program at Portland State University. He began his career with young people in the mid-1990s, working in short-term and crisis residential care. Ben has also worked with youth in therapeutic foster and group care, community mental health, juvenile corrections, homeless and street settings, community education, sexuality education and sexual health, and recreation/camping. His teaching draws from this practice experience and focuses primarily on youth work and youth workers; social justice; post-structuralism and discourse; and gender/sexuality. He provides training, consultation, and program reviews for youth serving organizations and educational institutions.

His research and scholarship focuses on youth and young adults, critical and qualitative epistemologies, gender and sexuality, and the state and future state of youth work. Ben has conducted a number of studies rooted in qualitative and critical methodologies including ethnography, interpretive phenomenology, and discourse analysis.