Institutions and Organizations Receive Accolades for Alcohol Prevention Excellence

WORCESTER, Mass. – Outside The Classroom announced yesterday the recipients of the 2008-2009 Prevention Excellence Awards. Held annually, the Prevention Excellence Awards honors individuals, institutions, and Greek organizations that have achieved excellence in their alcohol prevention efforts, thus significantly improving the quality of student life.

Eight institutions and five Greek organizations were recognized at a gala award ceremony at the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. This year, the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and Delta Gamma Fraternity were distinguished for their outstanding prevention success, receiving highest honors and a donation of $10,000 in the name of the team who helped develop and implement prevention programs. Jacqueline Peterson, vice president for student affairs at the College of the Holy Cross, and Beth Searcy, president of Delta Gamma Fraternity, accepted the awards on behalf of their institution and organization.

Additional recipients of the Prevention Excellence Award include Bentley University, Eastern Illinois University, Emory University, Harvard University, Miami University, St. John’s University, the University of Iowa, Chi Omega Fraternity, Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity, Sigma Nu Fraternity, and Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity. All applications were evaluated by an independent review panel made up of previous Prevention Excellence Award recipients and nationally recognized prevention experts. Applications were evaluated on five criteria: Implementation Practices, Communication Strategy, Programmatic Linkages, Organizational Linkages, and Program Evaluation.

The Prevention Excellence Awards also recognize an outstanding alcohol and other drug professional for his or her continued commitment to the field of alcohol prevention.  The recipient of the 2009 Outstanding AOD Professional Award was Glen L. Sherman, Ph.D., associate vice president and dean of student development at William Paterson University.

Award recipients demonstrated their dedication to the health and safety of their students by implementing comprehensive alcohol prevention programs on their campuses. Their efforts included a variety of strategies, including AlcoholEdu, a primary prevention program that incorporates evidence-based prevention methods. The recipients also implemented policy initiatives, peer education programs, and events that underscore the importance of safe behaviors. These initiatives were supported with communications to faculty, peers, and community members, as well as evaluation to assess the impact of these programs on student behaviors.

“We are continually impressed with the progress being made in this field,” said Brandon Busteed, founder and CEO of Outside The Classroom. “The Prevention Excellence Awards had an enormously successful fourth year, due in large part to the outstanding applications we received. It is truly an honor to work with these individuals, institutions, and organizations that are leading the way in alcohol prevention on our nation’s campuses.”

High-risk drinking continues to be one of the most significant, perennial challenges facing colleges and universities, making effective alcohol prevention programs an absolute necessity. Recent data from the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) found that the problem of college drinking exceeds previous estimates. The report cites that more than 1,800 alcohol-related deaths, 550,000 alcohol-related injuries, and 95,000 alcohol-related sexual assaults, and 675,000 assaults by another student who has consumed alcohol happen each year among college students.

The Prevention Excellence Awards program is sponsored by Outside The Classroom, Inc., founder of The Alcohol Prevention Coalition and the developer of the AlcoholEdu suite of online prevention programs. AlcoholEdu is used on over 500 campuses nationwide and by 36% of all first-year students at America’s four-year higher education institutions, making it the field’s most widely used educational tool for curbing high-risk drinking. More than 1.4 million students have graduated from AlcoholEdu. About Outside The Classroom For nearly a decade, Outside The Classroom has been committed to strengthening the field of alcohol prevention by providing institutional leaders and their students with the information needed to develop well-informed, cost-effective strategies for reducing alcohol-related risk and preventing harm. Today, the organization’s flagship educational program, AlcoholEdu® for College, is used on over 500 campuses and by 36% of all first-year students at America’s higher education institutions. In 2008, Outside The Classroom launched The Alcohol Prevention Coalition to take on the larger scope of the work – providing institution-wide solutions to the key challenges threatening effective alcohol prevention. All of Outside The Classroom’s programs are developed under the leadership of national prevention expert William DeJong, Ph.D.  For more information please visit www.outsidetheclassroom.com.