Bethany Kies-Bolkema, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Bio
Bethany has a PhD in Health Education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU), and a BS and MPH in Community Health Education from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse (UW-L). Additionally, she is certified as Health Education Specialist and a L1 CrossFit trainer, and she previously held a license in Practical Nursing from Western Technical College.
Dr. Kies began as a visiting professor in the department of Exercise Science, Health Promotion and Recreation in the Fall of 2015, and became an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2016. Within the department she teaches courses for the health promotion and wellness emphasis, including: Drugs and Healthy Lifestyles, Introduction to Health Promotion, Behavior Facilitation, Methods of Health Promotion I and II, and Evaluation of Current Health Issues.
Most recently, for her dissertation, Dr. Kies studied social support for health behavior change via the online social networks. She has also conducted studies that helped meet a need within her school or community (e.g. evaluating Farm to School materials, and conducting a workforce training needs assessment) and ones that explored health disparities and health equity in public health. Beginning in the fall of 2016, she connected with the CSU-Pueblo Institute of Cannabis Research to study cannabis in the K-12 schools, perceived risk of cannabis use and the role of cannabis in addiction to other illicit psychoactive drugs.
Related to service, Dr. Kies is the advisor of the CSU-Pueblo Health and Wellness Club, and she began service to the CSU-Pueblo University board on diversity and equality in the Fall of 2016. Bethany is a member of three professional organizations, Eta Sigma Gamma, SOPHE and APHA, and she attends at least one National Conference annually, often with several students. Locally, Dr. Kies is a member of the Pueblo City-County Health Department Steering Committee for the Community Health Needs Assessment, she teaches several Cooking Matters Classes each year through Care and Share, and she is becoming more involved in health education at the school in which her children attend.