PULLMAN, Wash. — A course on AIDS education and sexual decision-making developed by WSU psychology professor Thomas A. Brigham has received funding from the Association of American College and Universities’ Partnerships for Health and Higher Education initiative.
The focus of the course is on preventing unwanted pregnancies, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The course is conducted by specially trained students who give presentations and lead discussions and exercises. The course has been taught for two years and was approved as a regular offering by the WSU faculty and regents this spring.
According to Brigham, lecturing is not the most effective way to affect decision-making, and as a result he designed the course around peer instruction and greater interaction between students.
Brigham also recently learned that he has been named the 1998 Visiting Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. As an Erskine Fellow, he will spend most of May and June at that university presenting departmental and university-wide lectures.
Brigham earned his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and came to WSU in 1972. He is director of the Self-Control Research and Training Unit and focuses his research on social problems.
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