Hobart and William Smith Colleges

12 March 2013 Perkins, Craig Give Social Norms Talks

Wesley Perkins, professor of sociology, was invited to give a plenary address at the Fifth International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction held in Frankfurt, Germany, March 7 and 8. His talk was titled, The Social Norms Approach to Alcohol Consumption and Harm Reduction.

Perkins also recently presented research in collaboration with David Craig, professor of chemistry, at the Mental Health Division Annual Research Review Meeting of the United States Air Force Medical Operations Agency in San Antonio, Texas. Their presentation was on the USAF Social Norms Project: Reducing Alcohol Abuse Among Airmen Age 18-24. Perkins and Craig serve as principal investigators for this project, which is a two-year study funded by a grant from the U.S. Air Force to examine the effects of a social norms intervention conducted at selected air bases around the world. They presented results of the first year of this research.

Perkins is a graduate of Purdue University, and he received his M.A., M. Div., M. Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University. He is the author of dozens of journal articles and is editor of a book on the social norms approach to substance abuse prevention, and has been honored with national awards for his work in preventing alcohol and drug abuse in colleges and universities.

Craig is a graduate of California State University at Chico and received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Riverside. In addition to his teaching duties, Craig is principle investigator of a program of BAC research at HWS. He is a leader in interdisciplinary program development particularly in the integration of the sciences into programs focusing on health and wellness at both the college and secondary school levels and has published numerous publications and a recent film on this subject.

Perkins and Craig direct the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Alcohol Education Project that has received multiple awards from the U.S. Department of Education and they are currently conducting a social norms project to reduce alcohol abuse among young Airmen at selected bases in the U.S. and abroad.