Olweus Bullying Prevention Program founder honored

CLEMSON, SC – August 4, 2011 – The American PsychologicalAssociation will honor Dan Olweus, adjunct faculty member in Clemson’sInstitute on Family and Neighborhood Life, with the Award forDistinguished Contributions to the International Advancement ofPsychology at its national meeting Friday, Aug. 5, in Washington, D.C.

Olweus developed an internationally recognized bullying-preventionprogram while a psychology professor at the University of Bergen,Norway. The program is a comprehensive, schoolwide program designed foruse in elementary, middle or junior high schools.

An endowed chair in his honor was established at Clemson in 2009, withSue Limber as the first Olweus Distinguished Professor in the Instituteon Family and Neighborhood Life. Limber leads efforts to implement theOlweus Bullying Prevention Program in the United States. It is beingpracticed in more than 6,000 schools nationally. She also has consultedon the national “Stop Bullying Now” campaign since its inception in2004.

Limber also is being honored at the American Psychological Associationnational meeting with the Distinguished Career Award from theassociation’s division of psychologists in public service.

The association is honoring Olweus for his lifelong commitment tounderstand bullying among children and to create safe and humane schoolsettings. He is recognized as a world expert and a pioneer in researchon bully/victim problems. He is a global leader in raising publicawareness about the nature and prevalence of bullying, its potentiallyserious consequences and the adult behaviors that allow bullying tooccur. 

“Dan Olweus identified the problem of bullying and created acomprehensive solution,” said Gary Melton, Institute on Family andNeighborhood Life director. “Throughout his career, he has been guidedby a concern for careful psychological inquiry and a commitment to thepromotion of human rights.”

In 1970, Olweus began what is regarded as the world’s first scientificstudy of bully/victim problems, which was published as a book inScandinavia in 1973 and in the U.S. in 1978. In the 1980s he conductedthe first systematic intervention study against bullying, whichdocumented positive effects of his Bullying Prevention Program. In the1990s he conducted several large-scale intervention projects that alsoproduced positive results and included researchers from Japan, England,the Netherlands, the U.S. and Norway.

Other honors Olweus has received include the award for outstandingaggression research from the International Society for Research onAggression, the Spirit of Crazy Horse award for bringing courage to thediscouraged by the U.S. Reclaiming Youth International organization, anaward for outstanding publication and dissemination activity by theUniversity of Bergen, the Nordic Public Health Prize by the NordicMinister Council and the award for distinguished contributions to publicpolicy for children by the international Society for Research in ChildDevelopment.

Olweus earned his doctoral degree in psychology at the University ofUmeå, Sweden. He served as a psychology professor at the University ofBergen, Norway, until 1996 when he was appointed research professor ofpsychology in the Research Center for Health Promotion at the sameuniversity. Previously, he was director of the Erica Foundation, atraining institute for clinical child psychologists in Stockholm,Sweden.

A doctoral student in Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life’sinternational family and community studies program also will be honoredat the national conference.

Now completing her dissertation, Jill McLeigh will receive theDistinguished Student Award from APA’s division of psychologists inpublic service for her work to improve the wellbeing of immigrants andrefugees, people with mental illnesses and families of young children.She is now a project director in the sociology department at theUniversity of Maryland, where she coordinates research on the experienceof men and women in the military and their families.