August 21, 2009, UWF Campus Alcohol Prevention Program Receives Prestigious Grant – The University of West Florida “You Have Choices!” campus alcohol prevention program was selected as one of five universities across the nation to receive a grant award for $134,000 from the United States Department of Education as a Model of Alcohol or Other Drug Abuse Prevention Program on a College Campus. There are three levels of recognition: Exemplary, Effective and Promising. UWF was selected for 12 months as a Promising Program. The other four schools selected include University of Albany, State University of New York (Effective Program); University of California, Santa Barbara (Effective Program); University of Florida (Promising); and University of North Carolina, Wilmington (Promising). No program was identified as Exemplary for fiscal year 2009.

“This is a prestigious honor since this award recognizes our evidence-based alcohol prevention efforts over the past four years and provides funding toward our prevention programming for the 2009-2010 academic year,” said Debra Vinci, faculty and project director for UWF’s program.

“You Have Choices!” is a comprehensive, evidenced-based, integrated program to reduce high-risk drinking among college students. The program utilizes environmental strategies coupled with social norms marketing and informational, knowledge- and motivation-based interventions to achieve its goals. For the past three years, promising results include an increase in students’ awareness of campus-related policies, of students’ awareness of the availability of prevention programs and students’ perception that alcohol policies are enforced. Additional impact includes a significant reduction in the misperception students have that the majority of their peers drink in high risk ways. The goals of UWF’s program are to reduce alcohol misuse and the incidence of negative consequences related to alcohol consumption.

The model grant will allow for further assessment to measure the effectiveness of the various interventions targeted toward the individual student-level. In addition, it will allow for strengthening the program’s impact on the student body as a whole, through expansion of social marketing and health communications strategies.

For more information, contact Vinci at (850) 474-2598 or e-mail dvinci@uwf.edu.

February 16, 2009, Dr. Rick Harper, Director of the Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development, has been awarded a subcontract from the Science Applications International Corporation in the amount of $120,000. The project will develop an economic analysis of proposed operational scenarios reflecting future aviation activities, interaction and economic impacts of the Northwest Florida region in support of the Gulf Regional Airspace Strategic Initiative. For more information on this award, please contact Dr. Harper at (850) 474-2657 or rharper@uwf.edu.