Dan Olweus, Ph.D.
Watch "A Conversation with Dr. Dan Olweus"
Dr. Dan Olweus is a research professor of psychology affiliated with the Research Center for Health Promotion (HEMIL) at the University of Bergen in Norway. He has worked on bullying problems among schoolchildren and youth for nearly forty years. His earliest scientific study of bullying was published in Scandinavia in 1973 and the United States in 1978 as a book titled, Aggression in the Schools: Bullies and Whipping Boys.
In the 1980s, Dr. Olweus conducted the first systematic intervention study against bullying in the world, which documented positive effects of what is now the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. The success resulted in Dr. Olweus leading a nationwide government initiative to implement OBPP throughout all Norwegian elementary and junior high schools.
Dr. Olweus is generally recognized as a pioneer and founding father of research on bullying problems and as a world-leading expert in this area both by the research community and by society at large. He also was the first to study teachers who bully students.
His book, Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do has been translated into fifteen different languages. Dr. Olweus has received a number of awards and recognitions for his research and intervention work, including the "Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy for Children" award by the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). He has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASES) in Stanford, California.
Susan P. Limber, Ph.D., MLS
Watch "A Conversation with Dr. Susan Limber"
Susan P. Limber is a professor within the Institute on Family and Neighborhood life at Clemson University. She is a developmental psychologist who received her master's and doctoral degrees in psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also holds a master's of legal studies from Nebraska.
Dr. Limber's research and writing focus on legal and psychological issues related to youth violence (particularly bullying among children), child protection, and children's rights. She directed the first wide-scale implementation and evaluation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in the United States and co-authored the Blueprint for the Bullying Prevention Program and Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age, as well as many articles about bullying.
In recent years, Dr. Limber has directed the implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in the United States. She also provides consultation to the National Bullying Prevention Campaign, supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration. In 1997, she received the Saleem Shah Award for early career excellence in psychology-law policy, awarded by the American Psychology-Law Society of the American Psychological Association (Division 41) and the American Academy of Forensic Psychiatry. In 2004, Dr. Limber received the American Psychological Association's Early Career Award for Psychology in the Public Interest.
Vicki Crocker Flerx, Ph.D.
Vicki C. Flerx helped first bring the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program to the United States and now is a Program Director for the program. She also is a research assistant professor at the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life, Clemson University, Clemson, SC. She has expertise in both public and mental health.
Prior to earning her doctorate in public health, Dr. Flerx spent fifteen years as a therapist working in psychiatric settings and focusing on women and youth who were victims of abuse. In addition, she has conducted research in family violence, including intimate partner violence, child abuse, and children exposed to domestic violence. She now trains and consults nationally to support the dissemination of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.
Dr. Flerx co-authored the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Schoolwide and Teacher Guides (and accompanying CD-ROMs and DVDs), and the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Class Meetings and Individual Interventions: A How-To Guide and DVDs.
Nancy Mullin, M.Ed.
Nancy Mullin is a Program Director for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. As Executive Director of Bullying Prevention, Inc., she provides consultation and training about bullying prevention in preschool through Grade 12. At Wellesley College, she directed the Project on Teasing and Bullying, the Preschool Empathy Project, and coordinated the Massachusetts Bullying Prevention Initiative (the first statewide implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in the US).
At Wellesley, she co-authored additional bullying prevention materials, including Quit It: A Teacher's Guide on Teasing and Bullying for Use with Students in Grades K-3, an approved Olweus supplemental resource, and authored the Selected Bibliography about Teasing and Bullying for Grades K-8 (Revised Edition). Ms. Mullin's nationally known work emphasizes linking bullying prevention themes to classroom curriculum and reducing the negative impact of bullying and gender-role stereotypes on school climate and student performance.
Ms. Mullin co-authored the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Schoolwide and Teacher Guides (and accompanying CD-ROMs and DVDs), and the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Class Meetings and Individual Interventions: A How-To Guide and DVDs.
Jane Riese, L.S.W.
Jane Riese is the Director of Training for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program training in the US as well as an OBPP Program Director. She is also a research associate with Clemson University's Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life. Jane became one of the program's first U.S. certified trainers and helped coordinate the first U.S. Olweus Training of Trainers held in 2001 in Pennsylvania. She currently oversees training of the Olweus program for Clemson.
Jane and Olweus colleagues co-authored the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Trainer's Manual and OBPP Schoolwide Guide and (and accompanying CD-ROM and DVD), and are co-contributors to the OBPP Teacher Guide, including the CD-ROM, and DVD. Jane also co-authored the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Class Meetings and Individual Interventions: A How-To Guide and DVDs.
A social worker and prevention educator since 1982, Ms. Riese created and directed dialogue-based restorative justice programming in her community and was also the director of a prosecution-based victim-witness office.
Marlene Snyder, Ph.D
Marlene Snyder is the Director of Development for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in the United States, as well as an OBPP Program Director. She is the national point of contact for Olweus program information, and is a research associate professor at the Institute of Family and Neighborhood Life at Clemson University.
Dr. Snyder consults regularly with a wide variety of professional and community organizations on a range of topics related to bullying prevention and intervention. She is the founding president of the International Bullying Prevention Association. Dr. Snyder has served as a national and international conference speaker, trainer, and technical assistance consultant for educational, mental health, child welfare, and juvenile justice agencies, as well as parent education organizations.
In addition to co-authoring the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Schoolwide and Teacher Guides (and accompanying CD-ROMs and DVDs), and the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Class Meetings and Individual Interventions: A How-To Guide and DVDs, Dr. Snyder authored a book entitled ADHD & Driving: A Guide for Parents of Teens with ADHD.
