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NCAAW Home Page LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Dr. HammondOn behalf of the Inter-Association Task Force on Alcohol and Other Substance Abuse Issues, let me welcome you to another National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week! This year will certainly be the biggest and best yet as more than 1,000 colleges and universities in North America jointly recognize the importance of campus prevention efforts.

In recent years, several new resources and reports have entered the higher education horizon that provide science based learning and recommendations for effective practices. Our NCAAW theme for this year of Putting the Pieces Together for Year-Round Prevention highlights some of the methods and studies that encourage our efforts to reach our students in a meaningful way on these important health and safety topics. This theme also indicates that your NCAAW activities are only a part of your year-round prevention program. Now is a good time to not only just plan an outstanding series of NCAAW events, but also to utilize the planning calendar that arrived with this guide, along with your campus calendar, to determine what outreach and educational events will make up your comprehensive prevention program.

You have received this resource manual, year-round programming calendar, and ad slick on our student writing contest, because you as a campus professional are in a position to make NCAAW a success on your campus! Now is the time to start planning who you will partner with to build something spectacular in your campus prevention program. And as you will see in reviewing the materials in this manual, one key element for success is to involve many different groups in the planning process for educational efforts. Our prevention programs need you to bring together a variety of student groups and offices to implement programs that will support student learning and support positive actions to keep our campuses safe. Gandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” We need you to lend your talents and lead the way in this effort.

Each year, we produce these resources in hopes that they will spark worthwhile ideas for your campus alcohol abuse prevention efforts. National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week is a very timely observance because it brings attention to important campus issues early in the academic year. But, it’s crucial to understand that prevention is not a “one-week activity.” The healthy choices your students make (or don’t make) can be largely impacted by your commitment to year-round efforts.

In recognition of your outstanding year-long efforts, the Task Force awards cash prizes to outstanding campuses whose alcohol abuse prevention programming shows special innovation and effectiveness. You’ll find brand new application criteria and guidelines at the end of this manual, and I hope you’ll consider applying. No matter how large or small your school, no matter how large or small your budget, your efforts are important and deserve recognition! You will also find the winners from the 2002-2003 award competition to gather some good ideas.

Another exciting element of NCAAW efforts is our student writing competition. This writing contest focuses on the positive influence college students can have on peer behavior. It is a great program to work in cooperation with journalism and writing faculty to promote NCAAW and reward the talented writers on your campus.

As you use these resources to assist you in the planning of your programming, your marketing, your public relations, and your evaluation, we hope that you will realize that only you can know what will work best on your campus.

The 22 higher-education organizations that make up the Task Force are dedicated to making our campuses safer and more enjoyable for everyone. From campus security, to fraternities and sororities, to athletics, to residence halls and peer education programs, we all have a vested interest in making NCAAW activities a memorable part of our year-round pevention program.

- Dr. Edward Hammond, President, Fort Hays State University,
NCAAW Chairperson

 
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