Academic Affairs

Student Representatives

Student Reps Home | Meeting Dates | Roster | Campus Websites

Student Involvement in UW System - Standing Committees

Systemwide AODA Committee

Description of Committee

According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, alcohol consumption is the greatest single problem that American universities must address. While the level of concern with alcohol abuse at the national level is high, data suggest that this problem is more acute in Wisconsin than in other states.

In September 1998, the first UW System AODA Symposium was held with an emphasis on the development of broad institutional coalitions to develop plans for the reduction of heavy episodic drinking. A direct outcome was the creation of a UW Systemwide AODA Committee to consider how UW System institutions can best work together to address AODA issues.

The purpose of the committee is to coordinate systemwide AODA initiatives, and to develop mechanisms for the dissemination of best practices, research, and other AODA program information.  At the state level, the committee seeks to provide leadership for collaboration with other state and community agencies, organizations and institutions, with an accompanying objective to ensure reciprocal representation between the UW System AODA Committee and other AODA entities.

The committee is composed of representatives from all UW System institutions as well as from the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) and the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (WAICU).  The committee is chaired by one of the UW System Chancellors and co-chaired by an Assistant Vice President from UW System Administration.

Much of the committee’s work is done through three subcommittees.  Each committee member participates in one of the following three subcommittees:

  1. Systemwide Activities: plans the biennial conference (Symposium)and is developing a web resource
  2. Funding: writes grants and organizes grant funded programming and training
  3. Survey: plans, implements, and analyzes data from a systemwide AODA survey that is given to a random sample of students at every UW institution every other year.
Mission

The development of campus alcohol policies and programs should be a collaborative effort involving students, faculty, staff, administration and other segments of the university community. The policies and programs should be educational and supportive in nature, comprehensive in scope and consistent with state and federal laws.

Logistics of Meetings

Meetings occur in the fall and the spring.  The fall meeting is usually face to face, in Madison, and from approximately 10-3 p.m.  The spring meeting is usually held by teleconference and is approximately two hours long.  The student member is encouraged to connect with committee members from their own campus and travel with them to the face to face meeting in order to avoid travel expenses.

The subcommittees meet periodically in order to work on their various projects.  Their meetings are usually about an hour long and by teleconference.  Most of the work of the subcommittees is done between the meetings.

Benefits of Participation

This committee would be appropriate for any students interested in policy concerns and wanting to influence and positively impact health, safety, and climate regarding AODA issues on UW campuses.  UW System and the committee benefit greatly from having a student viewpoint at the table when formulating policy or developing programs to provide training or gather data about AODA concerns at UW institutions.

Contact

Sal Carranza, Senior Academic Planner, Office of Academic and Student Services, 608-265-9177, scarranza@uwsa.edu.

Web Site

http://www.uwsa.edu/acss/aoda/committee.htm