Alcohol and drugs may not always be synonymous with education, but the risk of usage may be higher in the college environment.
A 2010 study of undergraduate college students found that more than 61 percent sold or gave prescription drugs to their peers. That statistic, along with alcohol abuse, was why Terry Rentner and Scott Martin decided to start the Alcohol, Drugs and Higher Education learning community.
Rentner, a professor and director of the School of Media and Communication, and Martin, professor and director of the Department of History, will be facilitating the learning community this year.
The learning community is available to faculty, staff and graduate students with backgrounds or an interest in drugs and alcohol on campus, Rentner said. The group will consist of up to 10 people and the application deadline is Aug. 24.
“It’s a different type of learning community in that it looks at the wellness of the student,” she said. “Our philosophy is that a successful student needs to be a healthy student. We want to look into how alcohol, tobacco and prescription drug use plug into that wellness and success of a student.”
Alcohol, Drugs and Higher Learning is one of four new learning communities available this year out of 13 total, said Karen Meyers, assistant director for the Center for Teaching and Learning.
The other new communities include Critical Thinking Pedagogy, Exploring Cyber Campus and Innovative Teaching Group, Meyers said.
“We encourage the communities to be made up of multiple disciplines to research on a subject and build a community, not a classroom,” she said. “Members can talk about what they are doing in the classroom, share ideas and network to better their own teaching.”
For the Alcohol, Drugs and Higher Education learning community, the focus is identifying and helping students with alcohol or drug problems.
“Many faculty don’t know the resources we have to help students or they’re not qualified to treat students with those problems,” Rentner said. “We want members to know what’s available to students, provide for students who seek help and be able to identify students who are struggling.”
While the community is just picking its members and transitioning out of the starting phase, it has already made several connections on campus. To improve its future efficiency, the community is working with Student Affairs, the Department of Recreation and Wellness and the Counseling Center, she said.
Faith Yingling, director of Wellness, said the department and learning community have partnered together and worked on a obtaining few grants pertaining to alcohol and prescription drug use.
One grant the community received is a four-year state grant for $514,000. The grant is intended for planning and determining strategies and priorities. Another grant will go toward programming like peer education, Yingling said.
“By having these groups get together, I see more collaboration opportunities and it brings more awareness and knowledge to what we’re doing,” she said.
Some of the sessions the learning community will host pertain to high-risk drinking, and how it affects adulthood and patterns of weight change in freshmen, Rentner said.
For more information on Alcohol, Drugs and Higher Education as well as the other learning communities visit bgsu.edu/ctl.
