As we look back through the history of Health Education a variety of men and women stand out as making very significant contributions to the development of the profession and the practitioners of Health Education. We most often identify those significant national leaders through one or more areas of focus including research, service to the profession and an outstanding role in the professional preparation and mentorship of future leaders. Mary K. Beyrer excelled in each of these areas throughout her forty-year career at The Ohio State University.
Mary obtained her doctoral degree from The Ohio State University in 1959 after having started her career in education as a public school teacher in Minnesota, Illinois and Virginia and then as an instructor at James Madison State University in Virginia. While at the Ohio State University she was mentored by Professor Delbert Oberteuffer and subsequently collaborated with him as a co-author of the prominent textbook, School Health Education.
An innovator in the field of Health Education she is best remembered at OSU as the first female director of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation in Ohio State’s School of Education from 1977-1981. She skillfully led the school through a challenging economic period and focused on making a significant expansion of the Health Education graduate program a priority.
The many doctoral students whom Beyrer advised became some of the best-known faculty, noted authors, administrators and Health Education professors in the profession. Being a mentor to graduate students was an area in which Mary excelled and is one of the significant reasons that we remember her as an outstanding Health Educator.
Another area where Mary demonstrated exceptional leadership was that of service to the profession and dedication to the expansion of Health Education as an integral part of the education of individuals of all ages. She served in professional leadership roles at local, state and national levels and was one of only four Health Education professionals to become the national president of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, serving from 1982-83. AAHPERD, now known as SHAPE America, honored her in 1988 with its highest honor, the Luther Halsey Gulick Medal for her outstanding contribution to the organization and the profession of Health Education.
Mary was one of a handful of Health Education scholars who has been honored as both a Scholar of the American Association for Health Education (AAHE Scholar) and the AAHPERD Alliance Scholar. Mary served as an author or editor of 10 books serving the Health Education profession and published numerous articles. She also served on the Editorial Board for the AAPHERD Journal of Health Education and the ASHA Journal of School Health. Mary was especially well known for her carefully crafted and innovative speeches and was thus invited to present at numerous universities and professional meetings throughout her career and served as a visiting professor at the University of Washington in 1966 and 1972.
In remembrance of Dr. Mary K. Beyrer the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the Advancement of Health Education has determined to honor her leadership at their 2018 annual meeting that will be held in collaboration with the Society for Public Health Education in Columbus Ohio, April 4-6, 2018.
A few comments from the many of her students who have shared their thoughts since her Mary K’s passing on May 22, 2016:
“She helped craft me into the professional that I am today – such an amazing person.”
–Kathy Riddle Fernandez, PhD, RN
“She was a role model of what a professional should be and the most ethical person I have ever known.”
–Dianne Kerr, PhD, MCHES