William L. Yarber
Back in May of 1961, when Bill Yarber graduated from Salem High School, he never dreamed that one day, because of hard work and dedication, he would be:
Dr. William L. Yarber
Provost Professor, School of Public Health-Bloomington
Senior Scientist, The Kinsey Institute
Senior Director, Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention
Indiana University, Bloomington
Dr. William L. Yarber was born April 28, 1943 to Orlan (Bill) and Beulah Yarber. He and his two brothers grew up knowing that their parents wanted, and yes expected, them to go to college. Bill and Beulah knew that education was the path to a better life. They instilled this dream of higher education and required their boys to work hard. Bill credits his success, in part, to the strong work ethic he inherited from his parents.
Bill worked at his father’s gas station during his high school years and at Caubles Grocery Store. He also played baseball (MVP his senior year) and was in the marching band. However, academics were always his priority. Bill also worked part-time at the Salem Leader and wrote articles for the sports section. His senior year he received three awards at the summer Journalism Institute at Indiana University Bloomington for articles he had written. That same year he also attended Boys State. Also in his senior year he was selected by the Salem High School faculty to receive the Outstanding Senior Male Student honor.
After attending the Journalism Institute at Indiana University Bloomington, he was hooked. He knew Indiana University was the college for him; he just didn’t realize how much of a positive impact Indiana University would have on his life. Initially, he started out studying journalism. After changing his major a few times, he finally decided to pursue Biology and Health Education and received his undergraduate degree in 1965.
After graduating Indiana University, Bill began his teaching career at Madison Consolidated High School in Madison, Indiana. While teaching there he earned his Master’s Degree in 1968 in Health Education. During the summers, he was a Naturalist at Clifty Falls State Park. In 1971 he earned his directorate degree in Health Education from Indiana University and in 1973 he earned his doctoral degree (HSD) in Health Science and Human Sexuality also from Indiana University.
He taught for a year at the University of Minnesota and then he taught at Purdue University from 1974-1984. In the fall of 1984, he returned to Indiana University and has been there ever since.
Bill credits his long career at Indiana University to Herman B Wells, President of Indiana University from 1938-1962 and then Chancellor at Indiana University from 1962-2000. Chancellor Wells championed core tenants of Indiana University during his tenure that remain today, such as the academic freedom of faculty to conduct research in their area of specialty.
The spirit of continuous learning at Indiana University inspired Bill to become the senior author of a college text book in its 9th edition, Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America. It is being used in over 300 colleges and universities in the United States and has been translated into Chinese and Korean.
Perhaps Bill’s greatest honor came at a time in our history when we were facing one of our worst public health crises: the AIDS epidemic. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contacted Bill and asked him in 1986 to create the country’s first secondary school curriculum to teach students how to prevent the spread of AIDS. Six months later, he delivered the final product and over 200,000 were distributed to schools throughout the US.
Conceivably Bill’s greatest joy comes from his students. He is energized by their exuberance and inquisitive minds. He finds fulfillment in knowing that he is teaching them to protect their health, make responsible decisions, embrace their sexuality and respect others.
In 2010, Bill was in the Salem Lion Legacy inaugural class. He never imagined that he would receive such an honor and thoroughly enjoyed returning to Salem High School to talk to current students and encourage them to dream big.
Bill established the Professor William L. Yarber Indiana University Scholarship because of his dual love for Salem High School and Indiana University. He believes that Salem High School prepared him for the academic challenges he would face, and Indiana University prepared him for his career as an educator and scientist. As a way of thanking both institutions, Bill established this scholarship in the Washington County Community Foundation to help a Salem High School student attend Indiana University.
Bill also endowed, at Indiana University, the William L. Yarber Professorship in Sexual Health and the annual Ryan White and William L. Yarber Lecture in honor of our Indiana native-son, Ryan White, who died from AIDS in April 1990, a few months before he planned to attend IU. In 1984 Ryan contracted HIV from tainted blood products given to him to treat his hemophilia.
Bill would like to share the following poem. It was given to him by Martha Tuck, a Salem resident, at his high school graduation, and he has carried it with him ever since. Even though it is written for men, he believes that its basic messages are applicable for both men and women:
If- By Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream- -and not make dreams your master;
If you can think- -and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on! '
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings- -nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And- -which is more- -you'll be a Man, my son!
