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"The Committee on University and Community Relations: A Model Campus-Community Partnership at a State University Center"

Funding Source
U. S. Department of Education Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Models on College Campuses Grant Competition

Funding Amount
$174,932

Funding Period
15 Months

Project Director/Principal Investigator
Thomas L. Gebhardt, M.A., Director of Personal Safety and Off-Campus Affairs, University Police Department, University at Albany, State University of New York

Co-Project Directors/Co-Principal Investigators
Estela M. Rivero, Ph.D., Director, University Counseling Center

Brian M. Freidenberg, Ph.D., M.A., M.S.W., Addictive Behaviors Specialist/Staff Psychologist, University Counseling Center, University at Albany, State University of New York

Evaluator
Drew Anderson, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York

University Administrative Consultant: Social Norm Campaign
Catherine J. Herman, Associate Vice President of Media and Marketing, University at Albany, State University of New York

External Consultant
H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Project Abstract
The University at Albany, State University of New York seeks funding assistance through the U.S. Department of Education to identify, enhance, further evaluate, and disseminate information about its nationally recognized and effective Committee on University and Community Relations.  In existence at the University at Albany for the past fifteen years, the Committee on University and Community Relations has served as a central initiative within the University’s Comprehensive Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention Program and has been regarded as a national campus-community coalition model. Continuing the work of our campus-community coalition, the proposed project will develop, implement, and evaluate a coordinated and multifaceted campus and community-based social norms media campaign that incorporates the unique delivery of information on the health-related and protective behaviors of UAlbany students to both our students on and off campus and to members of the local Albany residential and business community.  This effort seeks to: 1) reduce high-risk drinking rates and associated high-risk behaviors and increase protective behaviors in our on-campus and off-campus students; 2) Correct misperceptions of the alcohol use rates of University at Albany students, particularly those of our off-campus students, held by members of our campus and in the local community; 3) Identify and describe the effective ingredients of a successful campus-community coalition; and 4) institutionalize effective program components and disseminate information concerning the effective components of this project to Institutions of Higher Education  on a local, state, and national level. The proposed project design and evaluation strategy were developed after consultation with both campus and community stakeholders and researchers in the social norms area, and the project will be implemented with the strong commitment of high-ranking campus and community officials.

About the Grant Competition
The goal of the U.S. Department of Education’s Alcohol and other Drug Prevention Models on College Campuses Grant Competition is to provide funds to programs that have been implementing effective alcohol and other drug prevention programs on their campuses and which identify, enhance, further evaluate and disseminate information about an effective alcohol or other drug prevention program.   The University at Albany, SUNY is one of four 2006 grant recipients.