Professor Emeritus David MacPhee spent his 30-year career in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies acting in multiple service roles, including directing the department’s doctoral program, serving as assistant department head, chairing the Tenure and Promotion Committee for more than a decade, and conducting his own rigorous research in prevention science.
In celebration of his retirement and his wonderful career, the MacPhee Forum on Issues in Prevention Science was launched to bring in national and international experts in the area of prevention science to the Colorado State University campus to support and grow the expertise in the department.
November 15 Speaker: Richard Spoth
Richard Spoth, Ph.D., is the F. Wendell Miller Senior Prevention Scientist and the director of the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute at Iowa State University. Spoth will give the MacPhee Forum lecture on “Harnessing the Translation Science Power of Extension: Mapping ‘Science with Practice’ Frontiers in Behavioral Health” at 1 p.m. on November 15, in room A101 of the Behavioral Sciences Building.
In his talk, he will tell a three-part story about harnessing the translation science power of Extenstion to promote behavioral health at the population level.
The presentation will begin with an overview of the historical foundations of Extension’s translation science mission, describing how that history brings it to a crossroads where Extension is positioned to make major contributions to solutions for U.S. drug epidemics and other behavioral health problems.
Next, Spoth will illustrate this unique positioning with a collaborative, Land Grant University-based program of research that demonstrates intervention science with practice for general populations. This segment will include results from PROSPER, an Extension-grounded system for community delivery of evidence-based preventive interventions.
After noting some challenges to future progress, Spoth’s presentation will highlight ways forging ahead in the new behavioral health frontier, following the lead of pioneers who are voicing their stories about the behavioral health promotion value of Extension.
Translation science is the process of applying information gained through scientific research interventions that ultimately improve public health.
More about Spoth
In addition to his role as director of the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute at Iowa State University, Spoth also serves as the director of the Coordinating Center for the Universal Prevention Curriculum in the North American region.
Spoth provides oversight for PPSI projects addressing a range of research questions on prevention program engagement, program effectiveness, culturally-competent programming, and dissemination of universal evidence-based programs through community-university partnerships.
Among his NIH-funded projects, Spoth received a MERIT Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for a large-scale study evaluating combined family- and school-based interventions.
He has served on numerous federally-sponsored expert and technical review panels addressing issues in prevention research and research-practice integration.
He has been invited to testify and brief Congress, to present to the Advisory Group for the White House’s National Prevention Council, to serve on a Surgeon General prevention-focused Expert Panel, and to represent the prevention field on panels sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. With this work, Spoth received the Prevention Science Award from the Society for Prevention Research for outstanding contributions to advancing the field of prevention science, as well as the Service to the Society for Prevention Research Award, the Translation Science Award, and the Presidential Award for lifetime scientific achievement.
More about MacPhee
MacPhee’s passion is in developing and evaluating programs that support children and families, and he has been a strong proponent of the department’s investment in prevention science – in other words, work that leads to preventing problems before they occur and building strengths and resilience in individuals, families, and communities.
Along the way, he mentored dozens of graduate students and taught well over 10,000 undergraduates. The MacPhee Forum hopes to continue this work by sharing knowledge around the best ways to support individuals, families, and communities – an area that drove MacPhee’s career and, through his passion, inspired so many students and helped so many families.
To support the MacPhee Forum in Prevention Science and honor David MacPhee, make a gift online here.
The Department of Human Development and Family Studies is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
