Saturday, August 11, 2012
 
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Millikin University receives TIPS Award of Excellence

100% of Millikin students are trained in program to prevent misuse of alcohol

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[August 11, 2012]  DECATUR -- Millikin University has received the 2012 TIPS Award of Excellence from Health Communications, providers of the Training for Intervention ProcedureS program, known as TIPS. The program aims to reduce high-risk drinking behavior.

The award is bestowed by the president and CEO of Health Communications, Adam Chafetz, and recipients are chosen by an internal committee, based on both volume of students certified and feedback from trainers and student participants. Nine other campuses also received the award in 2012.

"Millikin University trains 100 percent of its student population in the TIPS for University program," Chafetz noted. "For over a decade, they have demonstrated their commitment to preventing the misuse of alcohol on their campus and in their community and have experienced impressive results due to this commitment."

Beginning in the fall semester of 2001, Millikin University committed to training its entire incoming freshmen class in the TIPS for University program. Initially implemented with approximately 300 first-year students during orientation, TIPS is now required for all incoming freshmen.

Each August, Millikin hosts a closed "TIPS Train-the-Trainer" workshop to certify new upper-class orientation leaders and recertify existing leaders. In turn, these student leaders conduct TIPS sessions during freshmen orientation.

The results include a decrease in student alcohol violations, and due to the training in TIPS, an astounding 98 percent of Millikin students feel comfortable intervening when a peer is misusing alcohol.

"We are honored to receive this award," said Beth Evans, Millikin University director of student programs. "At Millikin University we are committed to the education and awareness of the effects of alcohol. It is our hope that we will continue to create a positive impact for our students and the community. We are thankful for all of the first-year experience mentors who we have partnered with to provide peer-to-peer outreach and to the Millikin and Decatur community for supporting us in our alcohol awareness education."

TIPS for the University is a three-hour program that helps students make sound choices when faced with difficult decisions about alcohol use. Working together with other students and administrators at their college or university, students address drinking behaviors specific to their school and develop intervention techniques appropriate to their campus. All sessions are taught by certified TIPS trainers, using video and printed materials to facilitate discussion of the course content. TIPS for the University provides students with the knowledge and confidence necessary to reduce high-risk drinking behavior among their peers.

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More than 1,200 campuses nationwide have implemented TIPS for the University. In addition, the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices, a project of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has recently recognized the TIPS for the University training program by awarding high marks for both the quality and effectiveness of the program.

For more information on TIPS for the University, visit www.tipsuniversity.org.

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Health Communications Inc. was founded in 1982 by Dr. Morris Chafetz, founding director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Located in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, HCI is a nationally recognized expert in the field of alcohol training. Its flagship program, TIPS, was the first of its kind and continues to set industry standards for this type of training. Numerous public officials and government agencies have recognized and endorsed TIPS training as life-saving and critical to the progress made in reducing alcohol-related injuries and deaths.

Millikin University is a private, comprehensive university with a diverse student population of approximately 2,300 students set in an experiential learning environment that promotes hands-on opportunities in over 50 majors from the College of Fine Arts, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Professional Studies, and Tabor School of Business. Millikin has a 75-acre residential campus, which affords its students the opportunity to live out their learning through performance, generating the confidence to succeed before and after graduation. More information is available at www.millikin.edu.

[Text from file received from Millikin University]

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