Ohio University has been selected as one of three recipients of EverFi's national 2019 Impact Award for outstanding achievements in alcohol prevention. OHIO stood apart from more than 100 institutions that were considered, and was honored on June 11 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The award was presented to Associate Director of Health Promotion at OHIO Terry Koons at the 11thAnnual Campus Prevention Network (CPN) Summit. According to EverFi, a leading educational technology platform that provides digital education, Koons has “demonstrated through his hard work and dedication an unwavering commitment to creating a healthy and safe campus.”
“As you are aware, OHIO’s success is due in great part to Terry’s leadership and tireless efforts to develop, implement and sustain a set of effective education and prevention initiatives,” wrote EverFi’s Vice President Robert Buelow and Senior Director Kimberley Timpf. “We also wish to thank the University for its commitment to alcohol and other drug prevention efforts. This achievement is also a testament to its investment in creating a campus environment in which students can live, learn and thrive.”
Also attending the CPN Summit was Mathew Hall, assistant director of health promotion, who Koons said helped improve campus culture. Koons also credited strong support of city officials, especially City Council President Chris Knisely, and numerous Campus Involvement Center staff.
According to Koons, the OHIO Health Promotion staff provide educational programs, social norming campaigns and student leadership opportunities that have helped to create the Healthy Campus Majority at the University. In that time, OHIO saw a 58 percent reduction in high-risk drinking.
Additionally, Koons said in the last decade peer-to-peer programming has made an impact on health behaviors of first-year students completing the CHOICES Learning Community Program.
“This program ties together information delivered through the required online EVERFI alcohol and sexual assault prevention education courses,” Koons added. “Adding active bystander training education has led to 74 percent of first-year students saying they would prevent a drunk friend from having sexual activity. The data we collect on the related health behaviors and perceptions have allowed us to meet the health education needs of our students.”
As an award recipient, OHIO was given the opportunity to highlight its work as part of an Impact Award recipient panel and it will be featured as a case study through CPN materials.
“I’m so pleased that EverFi has recognized the great strides that Ohio University has made over the past few decades to change culture using an environmental and team approach,” said Dean of Students and Senior Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Jenny Hall-Jones. “Not only are we cultivating a campus culture where students, staff and faculty intervene when they see a high-risk situation, but we also are changing the narrative of what it means to be a student here. We are proud to say that the vast majority of our students make healthy choices.”
The three award-winning institutions, all a part of EVERFI’s Campus Prevention Network, were selected based on interviews with campus professionals and a careful review of each institution’s alcohol prevention efforts. Another deciding factors was their inventory score from completing the CPN’s Alcohol Diagnostic Inventory, a comprehensive, research-based assessment of a school’s prevention programs and initiatives.
EVERFI’s Campus Prevention Network is a nationwide initiative of more than 1,700 institutions that have pledged to adopt the highest standards of prevention related to critical health and safety challenges and to assess the progress and impact of their efforts.