March 29, 2011

Health education scholar to speak on campus

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The annual Robert D. Russell Symposium at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is set for Monday, April 4, and James H. Price, the 2011 Robert Russell Scholar in Health Education, will speak about “Teenage Pregnancy Prevention -- The Role of Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives.”

The Department of Health Education and Recreation in the College of Education and Human Services is sponsoring the symposium in the John C. Guyon Auditorium at Morris Library. The public is welcome to attend and there is no cost or pre-registration. The evening begins with a reception at 6 p.m. followed by Price’s address from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Price is the former chairperson and associate dean for graduate studies and research in the University of Toledo’s health and human services college. He is professor emeritus of health education and public health there and continues as part-time faulty member with a position as research professor in health education. At the University of Toledo, Price won the university’s Outstanding Teacher Award and Outstanding Researcher Award and also earned recognition from numerous national health care organizations.

While researching, teaching and mentoring doctoral students, he also served in professional organizations, including being president of the American School Health Association, consultant to the Ohio Department of Health and much more. He is still active in research and mentoring as well and recently served on a sub-committee working to establish the nation’s new “Healthy People 2020” objectives with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Price also authored three textbooks and about 300 articles and served on several editorial boards for health care periodicals. He is a former editor for American Journal of Health Education and Journal of School Health and a contributing editor for the Journal of Nursing Care.

The SIUC Department of Health Education and Recreation, along with Southern Illinois Healthcare and the Alpha Alpha Chapter of Eta Sigma Gamma, are hosting the symposium. The annual event bears the name of the late educator and researcher Robert Russell, who spent 48 years as a health educator. He was the 1991 SIUC Teacher of the Year and his contributions to health education earned him the American Association for Health Education Scholar Award and the Eta Sigma Gamma National Honor Award. His early research focus included alcohol studies. Colleagues credit him with creating the ecological model of health education and for his work targeting spiritual health as an important element of health education. He was interested in the holistic and ecological aspects of health and the spiritual elements as part of personal health.

A devoted family man, Russell was married for 53 years to Lenore and had five sons and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren, even delaying his retirement to teach a granddaughter at SIUC.