Elena M. Sliepcevich (July 29, 1919 - March 3, 2008) was one of the leading figures in the development of

health education Health education is a profession of educating people about health. Areas within this profession encompass environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional health, intellectual health, and spiritual health, as well as sexual and r ...

as an academic discipline and profession.

Biography

A 1939 graduate of the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

, Sliepcevich received her master's degree from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1949 and her doctorate in physical education from Springfield College in 1955. She was a professor of health education at the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1961, when she was selected to direct the School Health Education Study (1961–1969). Most health education curricula developed since have been based on the 10 conceptual areas identified by the School Health Education Study: community health, consumer health, environmental health, family life, mental and emotional health, injury prevention and safety, nutrition, personal health, prevention and control of disease, and drug use and abuse. The Study's model curriculum became known as the School Health Curriculum Project (later renamed Growing Healthy) The Study's findings were also the major reason for

President Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

’s creation of the President's Committee on Health Education in 1971. When the National Center for Health Education (NCHE) was created in 1975 as a result of one of the recommendation of the committee, Dr. Sliepcevich was one of the center's founders. She was one of the principal framers of the NCHE's first major activity, the Health Education Role Delineation Project (1978–1981). Following the School Health Education Study, she joined the faculty of

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

at Carbondale (SIUC), where she was Professor in both the Department of Health Education and the School of Medicine, and team taught courses with David Duncan, Robert Gold, and Elaine Vitello. She continued to teach at SIUC until her retirement in 1993. She died in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, b ...

on March 3, 2008.Obituary of Dr. Elena M. Sliepcevich
, SIUC website. Retrieved 10 June 2011.

References

Notes

Other

*Eberst, R. M. (1998). An interview with Dr. Peter Cortese. The International Electronic Journal of Health Education, 1(2), 112–134. *Goldsmith, M. D. (1998). An Interview with Robert Russell. The International Electronic Journal of Health Education, 1: 60-71 *Means, R.K. (1975). Historical Perspectives on School Health. Thorofare, N.J.: Charles B. Slack. *Russell, R. D. (1966). Teaching for meaning in health education: The concept approach. Journal of School Health, 36(1), 12–15. *Sliepcevich, E. M. (1964). School Health Education Study: A Summary Report. Washington, D.C.: School Health Education Study. *Sliepcevich EM. (1968). The school health education study: A foundation for community health education. Journal of School Health, 38(1), 45–50. *Sliepcevich EM. (2001). School health education: Appraisal of a conceptual approach to curriculum development. Journal of School Health, 71(8):417-21. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sliepcevich, Elena 2008 deaths University of Idaho alumni University of Michigan alumni Ohio State University faculty American social scientists American health educators People from Norman, Oklahoma 1919 births