SWARTHMORE, PA, November 20, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Betsy Crane, PhD, has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Having accrued nearly 50 years of inimitable expertise in her chosen field, Dr. Crane has garnered a laudable reputation as a professor of the Center for Human Sexuality Studies at Widener University since 2012. Serving as an adviser for at least 26 completed doctoral dissertations, as well as presenting and contributing for numerous professional workshops, she likewise worked as a professor and the director of graduate programs in human sexuality at the university's Center of Education between 2007 until 2012. Before joining the staff at Widener University, Dr. Crane held numerous positions in which she parleyed her extensive knowledge and passion for the study of human sexuality to students. To wit, she excelled as an adjunct assistant professor at the department of psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University from 2007 to 2012, an associate professor for the department of sociology on behalf of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the coordinator with the Doctor of Philosophy Program in Administration and Leadership Studies with Dixon University Center from 2001 to 2007. Her inaugural positions as an educator in higher educaiton were as a lecturer in human sexuality and women's health at Cornell University from 1994 to 2000, and at Ithaca College from 1989 until 1990.
Dr. Crane initially sought formal education at Nazareth College in Rochester, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in sociology in 1971. She promptly attended the University of Texas at Austin, from which she obtained a Master of Arts in communications in 1972 with a focus in mental health education. Dr. Crane concluded her academic efforts several decades later in 2000, attaining a Doctor of Philosophy in human service studies and program evaluation and planning from Cornell University. While studying at Cornell, Dr. Crane served on their extension faculty as training coordinator for the New York State Family Development Training and Credentialing Program (1994-2000), For this program, she co-created a highly regarded strengths-based human services training curriculum that was later adopted by several other states with which she consulted.
Prior to earning the PhD at age 50 and transitioning to higher education, Dr. Crane was highly involved with Planned Parenthood, first as the director of community education for the organization's affiliate in Tompkins County in Ithaca, NY from 1979 to 1990, and later as their executive director between 1990 and 1994. She had begun her career in human services as an attendant at Rochester State Hospital in the early 1970s, after which she transitioned towards public relations and communications for organizations dedicated to mental health treatment; the Rochester, NY Mental Health Center and the River Region Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board in Louisville, KY. Dr. Crane continued her career as a news reporter for the Cortland Standard from 1976 to 1977, and an outreach worker and teen counselor for the Family Planning Center of the Cortland County Health Department from 1978 until 1979, a job that led to her dedication to sexual health education that continued for the next 42 years.
Much sought-after for her scholarly opinion and inexhaustible advocacy for human sexuality education, Dr. Crane has interviewed extensively with numerous media outlets, appearing most recently in the TV series "Sexish" in 2016, interviewing alongside SFGate.com's Kevin Lynch regarding Michael Sams, the first openly gay NCAA Division One college football player to be drafted into the National Football League by the Saint Louis Rams in 2014, and featuring in the article "Sex after 50? After 75? But of course" through the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2013. An accomplished scholar, Dr. Crane was co-editor¬ in 2003, of the textbook "Sexual lives: A reader on the theories and realities of human sexualities." She has been a speaker for numerous professional and academic presentations nationally and internationally, and has authored 49 academic and professional publications.
In civic affairs, Dr. Crane has been keenly involved in advocacy organizations, as a co-founder of the Tompkins County AIDS Task Force in 1984 and the Indiana Cares Campaign to End Homophobia in Indiana, PA in 2002. She served the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, co-chairing a fund drive between 2009 and 2010, co-leading a workshop on Raising Boys in 2009, and teaching as a religious educator from 2001 to 2007. She also served as a member on the Indiana County Children's Round Table for two years, appointed by family court Judge Carol Hanna from 2006 to 2007.
To remain aware of developments in her field, she has stridently maintained her involvement with numerous commissions and task forces regarding the LGBT community, gender and women studies, diversity, and others, for Widener University. Dr. Crane is professionally affiliated with such organizations as the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, the American Association of Sexuality Educators Counselors & Therapists, the American Men's Studies Association, and the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology. Dr. Crane was previously the president of the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.
A 2009 inductee of Gamma Eta Rho, the national honor society in human sexuality, Dr. Crane also bears the distinction of being a member of the Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education. She has the immense honor of being the eponym for the New York State Family Development Association's Dr. Betsy Crane Award, created in 2002 and given annually to outstanding community-based trainers for the association's Family Development Training and Credentialing program that she co-founded. In light of this and other such accomplishments, Dr. Crane has been honored with numerous accolades, such as the Distinguished University Professor Award from Widener University from 2014 to 2017, recognition as Woman of the Year in 2007 for the American Association of University Women's Indiana, Pennsylvania, chapter, and a Certificate of Appreciation from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Commission on LGBT Issues.
In accounting for her success, Dr. Crane credits an enduring enthusiasm for learning. She has also held fast to deeply held values, most prominently her advocacy against racism and homophobia. She initially became involved in her profession due to a lack of sexual education, which stemmed from a traditional Catholic upbringing in the 1950s. In addressing this void in her personal experience, Dr. Crane was inspired and compelled to pursue her career path. To those seeking to follow in her footsteps, she opines that one must "do well at whatever you are doing and opportunities that you never imagined will emerge."
About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
# # #