In his role as center director, Dr Sarvela is responsible for the development, administration, coordination, and support of rural health and social service research in Illinois, especially as it relates to the SIU-C catchment area. He has been a principal investigator or coprincipal investigator on more than 20 extramurally funded projects, totaling in excess of $1.5 million.

Not unlike many academicians, Dr Sarvela's research interests and areas of expertise have evolved and broadened during the course of his time in higher education. Yet, there have been consistent recurring themes. His publications from the early 1980s largely reflect the study of risk taking and risk reduction related to alcohol and other substance use in youth. Many of the publications emanating from this early career work were the result of investigations in rural settings, thus providing something of a catalyst for his more recent work as director of the SIU-C Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development. Some of his publications concern themselves with properties of instrument development, needs assessment, program evaluation, and the creation of responsive interventions and curricula and, thus, set a stage for his subsequent textbook development. His current research blends the rural setting; the multiple, but unique health-related problems of that setting; and the challenging issues of measurement and evaluation.

Moving his career in a somewhat different direction, during 1996-97, Dr Sarvela was an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow in the University of Wisconsin system. In this capacity, he expanded and amplified his skills in educational leadership, strategic planning, and systems operations and policy. Aspects of this experience became translated into 2 highly relevant and adaptive book chapters ("Needs Assessment and Strategic Planning"; "Assessing Program Costs and Effects") written for Health Education Evaluation and Measurement - A Practitioner's Perspective, 2nd edition, coauthored with Dr Robert J McDermott and published in 1999.

In addition Dr Sarvela is a coauthor of over 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Rural Health, the Journal of School Health, Health Education Quarterly, Public Health Reports, Injury Prevention, as well as the American Journal of Health Behavior, and numerous others. Accompanying his journal articles have been several monographs, technical reports, proceedings, and abstracts. 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 (Germany) and lectured in Finland.

As any of Dr Sarvela's students will attest, one of his primary strengths is his mentoring ability, especially where research rigor and publication of results are concerned. Sophisticated professional preparation in conducting and disseminating research is a critical component for health education's future in attaining and maintaining cross-disciplinary recognition and in achieving competitiveness in federal and other funding networks. Dr Sarvela is a superb example of taking on the mentor's role.

Am J Health Behav 2000;24(3):229-230