J. Don Chaney, Ph.D., MCHES®, FAAHE
J. Don Chaney earned his Ph.D. in Health Education and Promotion from The University of Alabama, and is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist. In August 2020, he began his current position as Professor and Chair in the Department of Health Science at The University of Alabama (UA). Prior to UA, he served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Education and Promotion at East Carolina University (ECU). He has also served in faculty and and administrative roles at the University of Florida (UF) and Texas A&M University (TAMU)
Chaney’s research foci lie in the areas of technology integration in health and online learning/professional development. Two prominent themes of his work involve: 1) application of technology in health education and health promotion, and 2) developing theory-based distance education courses to enhance learning opportunities for time- and location-bound students. His approach to developing distance education courses is built on the foundation of research conducted by he and his colleagues. Specifically, his approach has led to the design, testing, and continuous modification of the Contextual Relative Distance Education Model for distance education program/courseware design. The online learning programs that he has been affiliated with have produced significant new funding sources for departmental initiatives. The majority of his publications are in the area of online course development and technological applications. More recently, he has expanded his research agenda to explore the mechanisms of how individuals seek, retrieve, and respond to health information found online. Specifically, he and his colleagues are working to assess eHealth literacy skills among the public health workforce in order to build tailored cyberlearning distance education courses in eHealth literacy to administer to diverse college students. As this work progresses, he will further examine ways to improve eHealth literacy skills, through narrowing the technology gap that exists among varying populations, and by using the theoretical underpinnings of his distance education work to inform the cyberlearning approach to assessing and improving eHealth literacy.
Chaney is the past Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Health Studies. He has also served in Guest Editor/Co-Editor roles for The Health Education Monograph and the International Electronic Journal of Health Education. The quality of his scholarly enterprise has been recognized in the receipt of 5 significant awards in his career: (1) American Association for Health Education (AAHE) Fellow Award; (2) AAHE Horizon Award; (3) AAHE Health Education Directory Technology Award; (4) AAHE Presidential Citation; and (5) The University of Alabama Jack Davis Professional Achievement Award. He is also a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES®).
Curriculum Vitae