New Paltz one of 13 colleges in nation recognized for alcohol prevention excellence

NEW PALTZ — The State University of New York at New Paltz was selected last month as one of 13 recipients of the 2006-2007 Prevention Excellence Awards by Outside The Classroom. The Prevention Excellence Awards honor higher education institutions in the United States that have achieved excellence in their alcohol prevention efforts.

Award recipients demonstrated their dedication to the health and safety of their students by implementing comprehensive alcohol prevention programs on their campuses. The recipients’ efforts included a variety of strategies, including Population-Level Prevention®, an approach that engages an entire population of students, such as a first-year class, not just those who have violated alcohol policies; peer education programs; poster campaigns; and events that underscore the importance of safe behaviors. These programs were supported with communication to faculty, parents and community members, as well as evaluation to ensure the programs are impacting students and their behaviors.

Only seven other institutions were honored with the Prevention Excellence Award, including University of Alabama, Bentley College, St. Joseph’s University, University of Connecticut, University of Central Florida, University of Iowa and University of Texas – San Antonio. In addition, five schools received honorable mentions in the program: Eastern Illinois University; Roger Williams University; Rhode Island College; Texas Tech University; and Washington University in St. Louis.

Robin Cohen-La Valle, the associate dean of students, and Michelle Combs, the director of Student Development, submitted the award application on behalf of New Paltz. Award applications were evaluated by a third-party panel of experts in the prevention field. Their decisions were based on five criteria: implementation practices; communication; evaluation; programmatic linkages; and organizational linkages.

The Prevention Excellence Awards program is sponsored by Outside The Classroom, Inc., the developer of the AlcoholEdu® online prevention programs used on more than 500 college campuses around the country.