Staff Profile

H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D. – Evaluation Consultant

H. Wesley Perkins received the B.A. in Sociology from Purdue University, an M.Div. degree from Yale Divinity School, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University. He is an evaluation consultant to MOST of Us and a Professor of Sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges where he has taught for more than 20 years and has previously served as Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology and Chair of the institution-wide Committee on the Faculty. In 1993 he was honored with Hobart and William Smith’s faculty prize for outstanding scholarship and
in 1997 he received the faculty prize for outstanding service to the college community honoring his work to reduce alcohol abuse among students. He is Project Director of the Alcohol Education Project at Hobart and William Smith, an initiative providing research, educational resources, and strategies to reduce alcohol and other drug abuse both locally and nationally. In 1999 the Project received a national award from the U.S. Department of Education as a Model Prevention Program in Higher Education.

Dr. Perkins has conducted extensive research over the last two decades on alcohol and other drug problems among college students, adolescents, and young to middle-aged adults. His work has focused upon uncovering peer misperceptions of alcohol and other drug norms and developing the Social Norms approach to prevention. He also conducts research on problems of collegiate children of alcoholics, gender-related aspects of drug use, stress and drinking, religious-ethnic differences in drinking and other drug use, and evaluation studies of campus environments. He has published this work in many academic and professional journals and delivered over 200 guest lectures, keynote addresses, and workshops about alcohol and other drug abuse for colleges, universities and secondary schools nationwide as well as for regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Perkins has also served as a consultant to schools throughout the United States and to state and national drug abuse agencies and has testified at a Senate hearing on problems of alcohol abuse on campus. In 1999 he received the Outstanding Service Award by the Network
of Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse for his significant career contribution to prevention work in higher education at both the local and national level. Dr Perkins’ work has been frequently cited in the press and television news coverage including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, and Time Magazine.

Dr. Perkins’ other research interests and publications include studies of family roles and well-being among young adults and comparative studies of social values and religion in Great Britain and the United States. He is also conducting an extensive research project supported by the Templeton Foundation on forgiveness and health in the life course of 25-45 year old adults.