Kris Bosworth, Ph.D.

Kris Bosworth, Ph.D., is Head of the Program in Educational Leadership at the College of Education of the University of Arizona in Phoenix, Arizona (School).  She holds the Lester L. and Roberta D. Smith Endowed Chair in Education with a focus on the prevention of substance abuse and other factors that put young people at risk. She teaches courses in school climate, the administration of prevention programs, and educational change. She was awarded the College of Education Service Award for 2003. She holds a Master’s in Counseling and Guidance, and a doctorate in Education from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She is the author of more than a dozen multimedia and video programs for young people with subjects that include AIDS, alcohol and drugs, sexuality, and violence. Her publications focus on the role of school culture and climate as a buffer for individual risk factors for risk taking behavior. She has combined her background in education with her training in prevention science to create processes that enable counselors and other educators to implement and sustain evidence based strategies in all levels of prevention implementation. Her model, Protective Schools, focuses on creating school climates and cultures that act a buffer to risk taking behaviors. This model which includes an assessment has been widely implemented in schools nationwide. These projects have earned awards from the American Medical Association National Congress on Adolescent Health (1989) and the Society for Technology and Teacher Education (1992), as well as the Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Programs Award from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) (2000).