Amherst’s Campus and Community Coalition to Reduce High-Risk Drinking (CCC) was recently given silver honoree recognition at the annual NASPA Excellence Awards competition. The Washington-based university administration organization NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education – gives out the awards in a variety of categories for outstanding administrative work at colleges across the country.

Co-chairs of the Coalition Sally A. Linowski, the director of the Center for Health Promotion at the University of Massachusetts’ University Health Services (UHS), and Tony Maroulis, executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, were informed of the award earlier in January. They will be formally recognized at NASPA’s annual conference, to be held in Philadelphia this March.

The CCC uses what it calls “environmental management strategies” to help create community dynamics where opportunities for binge drinking are reduced. The Coalition has lobbied hard for some of Amherst’s stringent bylaws against kegs, open containers, and houses which host frequent large parties, and has also worked with UMass administration to toughen on-campus sanctions for alcohol policy violations. Since 2005, the Coalition states frequent binge drinking by underage UMass students is down 30 percent, while regular binge drinking among people of all ages is down 21 percent.

UMass and UHS administrators were also singled out by NASPA for their

expertise in substance abuse prevention to speak at a national conference of administrators held in Miami earlier this month.

Linowski, Diane Fedorchak, project director of UHS’ BASICS (Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students) alcohol screening and intervention program, and Commonwealth Honors College assistant professor Gloria DiFulvio were among featured presenters at NASPA’s Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention and Intervention Conference, which took place Jan. 13 to 15 in South Florida.

Linowski prepared a presentation titled “Campus and Community Coalitions: Maintaining Momentum in Changing Times,” which emphasized the work of CCC in affecting changes to campus and town policy regarding binge drinking.

She and Fedorchak together gave the conference a presentation called “Virtual BMIs: Motivational Interviewing Techniques within a Stepped Care BASICS Program,” a multimedia package which provided attendees with an inside glance at UMass’ BASICS program. They focused on how BASICS prevention specialists “employ brief motivational interviewing to help change the behaviors of high-risk student drinkers.”

Linowski, Fedorchak and DiFulvio gave a third talk along with colleagues from the University at Albany and University of Arizona titled “Emerging Trends in Screening and Brief Motivational Interventions for High Risk Alcohol Abuse: Experiences of Three Universities.” The UMass trio and its counterparts at the other two schools have all been recognized by the Department of Education as model programs for their employment of what is called “evidence-based intervention,” as well as for contouring their specific screening and intervention programs to campus-specific dynamics.

Sam Butterfield can be reached at [email protected].