By Vinny Reda niversity at Albany psychologists M. Dolores Cimini and Daniel A. Trujillo of the Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program received a U.S. Department of Education award earlier this month for their work in developing and implementing a nationally recognized model program to prevent alcohol and drug abuse. The awards ceremony took place in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., and included representatives from the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. ED) and invited legislators. Kelly Aylward, legislative assistant to Congressman Michael McNulty (D-Green Island) attended, representing the congressman�s home district. In response to alcohol-related tragedies and research which shows that, while most college students are younger than the legal drinking age of 21, more than 43 percent have engaged in �risk drinking� (20 percent do so frequently), Congress in 1999 authorized U.S. ED to identify and promote effective campus-based prevention programs. Through grant competitions held in 1999 and again in 2000, 13 institutions of higher learning were designated as having �model programs.� In July 2000, UAlbany was one of these 13 institutions to be awarded an �Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Models on College Campuses Grant,� with Albany�s funding totaling $100,324. The funds were used to enhance the comprehensive, targeted, and student-driven Alcohol Prevention Program already in place for UAlbany�s campus community of 17,000 students through its 30-year-old alcohol education and peer assistance center, Middle Earth. Created in the spirit of students helping students, Middle Earth offers a variety of student-driven services, such as a campus hotline, peer education programs, and an interactive peer theater initiative. The Middle Earth program has served as a local, state, and national model for alcohol and drug prevention since the 1970�s. In recent years, the program has begun to collect data on its effectiveness and has shown an impact in reducing binge-drinking rates in students. Cimini, holder of a Ph.D. in psychology from UAlbany, serves as Middle Earth�s program director. She has worked since 1982 on a number of grant-funded programs and has more than 15 years of experience with young adults. Cimini has designed and implemented training programs and credit-bearing courses in peer education and helping skills for students entering the health and mental health fields, and she consults in the development of peer education programs at other colleges and universities on a nationwide level. Cimini, who is legally blind, has been honored for professional service by UAlbany, the Chancellor of the State University of New York, and former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. Trujillo is the University�s coordinator for alcohol and drug prevention and is a staff psychologist at the University Counseling Center. He received his doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he worked in a nationally recognized alcohol and other drug prevention program. Trujillo comes to his work roles with campus-based clinical experience, as well as specialized research and educational expertise in alcohol and other drug prevention for at-risk college students. He has skillfully assumed leadership for all UAlbany alcohol and other drug prevention education initiatives. In May 2000, he was presented with an award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the design and implementation of an �Exemplary Alcohol and Drug Prevention Program.�