Paul Sarvela

Who is Paul Sarvela?

Dr Paul D Sarvela is Professor of health education and Dean of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. The college is unique in being the only comprehensive, technically oriented college that is part of a major research university.

He is author or coauthor of over 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals, as well as several textbooks, monographs, and technical reports. With more than 130 conference papers to his credit, his work has been presented nationwide in the United States, as well as in parts of Europe, where he has been a visiting professor at the University of Cologne and lectured in Finland.

Dr Sarvela earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1981, a master's degree in educational psychology in 1983 and a doctorate in health education in 1984, all from the University of Michigan. He began his professional career as a program evaluator for Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation, primarily doing classified work for the National Security Agency.

In 1986 he joined the faculty of SIUC’s highly regarded Department of Health Education, where he was widely regarded as the replacement for recently departed Robert S. Gold.