Carolyn L. Williams

Dr. Carolyn L. Williams is an emeritus professor in the Division of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. She served as co-principal investigator on Project Northland, developing a primary prevention program for young adolescents and evaluating its impact with 2,400 students. Project Northland is one of the few prevention programs in use in American schools with scientific evidence that its programs actually reduce alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use by...See more

Dr. Carolyn L. Williams is an emeritus professor in the Division of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. She served as co-principal investigator on Project Northland, developing a primary prevention program for young adolescents and evaluating its impact with 2,400 students. Project Northland is one of the few prevention programs in use in American schools with scientific evidence that its programs actually reduce alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use by adolescents. Dr. Williams' work with Project Northland includes international projects in Russia and Poland and later contributions to Project Northland in Chicago. Dr. Williams trained in clinical psychology and has a co-major in child and family development from the University of Georgia. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Charter Member and Diplomate of the American Board of Assessment Psychology. Dr. Williams has numerous publications in the scientific literature, including 14 books. She is a co-author of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory for Adolescents (MMPI-A) and its alcohol-drug problem scales. She taught courses on adolescent development, psychological assessment, mental health promotion, and cultural diversity and health. Cheryl L. Perry, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Perry began her career as a junior high and high school teacher, and junior high school vice-principal, in Sacramento and Davis, California. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University and joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1980. She has published over 180 articles in the peer-reviewed literature on health promotion and prevention programs with children and adolescents. Her primary research projects have included the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program, the Minnesota Heart Health Program, the Minnesota Smoking Prevention Program, the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH), Project Northland, 5 A Day Power Plus, and D.A.R.E. Plus. She was the senior scientific editor of the 1994 Surgeon General's Report on Preventing Tobacco Use Among Young People and currently serves as principal investigator of several community-wide health behavior research projects concerning eating patterns, tobacco and alcohol use, and violence among children and adolescents. She served as an Expert Witness for the State of Minnesota in the 1998 landmark trial against the tobacco industry. Her recently published book is entitled Creating Health Behavior Change: How to Develop Community-Wide Programs for Youth (Sage Publications, July 1999). See less