Sandra L. Caron

Sandra Caron

Professor Emerita of Family Relations and Human Sexuality
scaron@maine.edu
Phone: 207.581.3138

Bio: Sandra L. Caron is professor emerita of family relations and human sexuality at the University of Maine. She served as program coordinator for Human Development and Family Studies for a decade (09/2014-01/2024). After 36 years as a faculty member at UMaine, she retired in 2024.

Caron has been recognized numerous times for her work, including being inducted in the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 2023. In 2019, she received the Distinguished Maine Professor Award (To download and read Dr. Caron’s speech at the 2019 commencement ceremony, click here). In addition, she has been honored with two out of the three UMaine Presidential awards, the Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award in 1998 and the Presidential Public Service Award in 2002. In 2013, she was recognized by the Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center for her lifelong contribution to sexual and reproductive health. In 1999, she received the Margaret Vaughn Award from Maine Family Planning for her outstanding contribution to sexuality education.

Her research and writing focused on the social-sexual development of young people. Caron authored or co-authored over 50 scholarly research articles, as well as several books, including: “Sex Matters for College Students: FAQs in Human Sexuality;” “Sex Around the World: Cross Cultural Perspectives in Human Sexuality;” and her children’s book, “Birds and Bees and More: Where Babies Come From and How Families Form.” Her book, “The Sex Lives of College Students: Three Decades of Attitudes and Behaviors,” was based on her 30 years of research. She served on more than 100 Honors, master’s and doctoral thesis committees.

Dr. Caron taught large lecture classes and small seminar courses, both in-person and online, at the the undergraduate and graduate levels, including Family Interaction; Family Life Education Methodology; Senior Seminar in Family Studies; Sexuality and Human Interaction; and Women’s Sexuality. For over two decades she also offered a summer travel study course, Human Sexuality in Europe, traveling to countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden to give students a broad, international perspective on how other cultures deal with various sexual and reproductive health issues. She is best known for teaching one of the largest and most popular classes in UMaine history, Human Sexuality. For nearly four decades she mentored thousands of young people and taught nearly 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

She was the founder and director of three innovative and nationally recognized peer education programs: Athletes for Sexual Responsibility, Male Athletes Against Violence, and The Greek Peer Educator Program. Watch the videos she produced with peer educators: “A Recipe for Disaster: Talking About Cooking the Way We Talk About Sex,” and What is THIS? She hosted her own website: College Sex Talk. For 20 years she wrote a weekly column for The Maine Campus newspaper called “Sex Matters,” in which she answered college student’s questions. It was one of the longest running weekly columns on sexuality in a college newspaper. She also hosted a show on WMEB campus radio by the same name.

Caron was a member of the American Association of Sex Educators Counselors and Therapists, the National Council on Family Relations, as well as the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality for over 40 years. She has been a licensed clinical professional counselor since 1996 with a private practice focusing on sexuality and relationship issues

Education
Ph.D. in Human Development, 1986, Syracuse University
M.S. in Human Development, 1982, University of Maine
B.S. in Health & Family Life Education, 1979, University of Maine

Sample publications

Connect with Sandra on Academia.edu
Connect with Sandra on LinkedIn

Other websites:
collegesextalk.com
sexlivesofcollegestudents.com
Athletes for Sexual Responsibility
Male Athletes Against Violence
sandralcaron.com