William H. Creswell
William Creswell was a major force in the evolution of comprehensive health education in schools.
He was instrumental in the advance planning which led to the nationwide research and curriculum development project, the School Health Education Study. Several of his widely quoted writings emanated from invitational conferences, and he was honored and recognized with numerous awards and citations by university, state, national and international groups.
In 1962, Dr. Creswell became Professor of Health Education at the U of I, and was head of the Department of Health and Safety Studies from 1970 through 1980. He also had a cross appointment as Professor of Health Education in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He retired from the University in 1989 after nearly 30 years of contributions to teaching, research and services, but remained active in various scholarly activities, including serving as Principal Investigator of the U.S. Department of Education Drug Free School Project, and coauthoring School Health Practice, the leading textbook on the subject of school health for elementary and secondary teachers and administrators and health service personnel.
At the U of I, Dr. Creswell waged a professional campaign to document differences education can make to smoking behavior, especially among elementary and high school youth. He was invited to include a report on youth and adult education in the U.S. Surgeon General's report on smoking in 1979, in which he wrote about the role of schools in education about the hazards of smoking. He blamed popular media for encouraging teenage smoking, initiating a discussion that continues to be a major issue. As a widely recognized leader in both school and community health education, Dr. Creswell was involved in virtually every national invitational conference and movement over nearly four decades which required his expertise, support, or both. In 1991 one supporter of his nomination for the Society of Public Health Education Distinguished Fellow Award wrote, "Bill Creswell has touched the lives of many health education students around the world: from Australia to Alabama, Canada to Colorado, India and Indiana and Nigeria to New Zealand."
