UW Aware and Residence Life receive national excellence award

2/2/2010

The Laramie Boomerang

By Carrie Haderlie

Two programs at the University of Wyoming have received joint recognition and a national award for work in alcohol abuse prevention among college students.

UW’s Alcohol Wellness Alternatives, Research and Education (AWARE) Program and Residence Life and Dining Services received a Silver Excellence Award from Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA). This award recognizes the excellence and innovation in the programs and initiatives of UW’s AWARE/Residence Life partnership.

“We take a comprehensive approach to addressing alcohol issues and don’t just focus on one strategy. We provide individual education to all students who have received an alcohol violation on or off campus, even on their first offense,” Lena Newlin, the AWARE program coordinator, said in an e-mail.

Residence Life and AWARE work together on initiatives ranging from training resident assistants on alcohol issues to programming and marketing related to alcohol education. Residence Life refers all alcohol-related judicial violations to the AWARE Program, Tony Earls, Residence Life associate director, said in a press release.

AWARE provides alcohol education and skills training to UW students and leads a campus/community coalition that works to reduce underage drinking and alcohol abuse.

And all incoming freshmen at UW are currently required to take an comprehensive online alcohol education program called AlcoholEdu before the second semester begins.

“Some schools don’t intervene with students until their third or fourth alcohol offense. We … do a lot of education and prevention work across campus, including (but not limited to) requiring the AlcoholEdu program for all incoming freshmen, presentations in academic classes and working with new students and parents during orientation,” Newlin said.

Earls and Newlin said the partnership has resulted in more than three years of data demonstrating a reduction in frequency and quantity of alcohol use; reduction in problems associated with alcohol use; reduction in risk factors associated with alcohol use; and increased protective behaviors reported among college students, such as use of designated drivers and setting drinking limits, according to the press release.

The recognition is the AWARE program’s second national award in two years.

In 2008 the United States Department of Education recognized AWARE as a promising model program for preventing alcohol abuse, an honor awarded to only five institutions of higher education.

According to recent data by the Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center, students that complete the AWARE program report drinking less frequently and a lower quantity 30- and 60-days after completing the program, Newlin said.

“Also, across campus, we have experienced a significant decrease in the percentage of students binge drinking. We used to rank higher than the national average and are now significantly below it,” Newlin said.

“We have also experienced a significant decrease in the number of students drinking and driving, as well as the number of students reporting that alcohol is negatively affecting their academics.”

These improvements speak to the collaborative, consistent and strategic work between AWARE and RL&DS, Newlin said.

“It is important to provide education to students so that they can make the most informed decisions about alcohol. By educating students about safe and responsible choices regarding alcohol use, we hope to prevent them making poor decisions in the future,” Newlin said.