In January, UCF C.A.R.E.S. team representatives: Jeff Novak, Dana Juntunen, Stephanie Spies, Ann Marie Palmer and Maureen Hawkins attended the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Alcohol, Other Drug and Violence Prevention/Mental Health joint conference. The conference focuses on systems, policies, and procedures that are in place to sharpen institutional decision making and policy development with campus administrators, alcohol education specialists, health promotion and prevention staff, and researchers.
The UCF C.A.R.E.S. team presented on the staff initiative that has been the area of focus for this past year in Student Development and Enrollment Services. UCF C.A.R.E.S. has provided training for over 450 SDES staff members. The team focused the round table presentation on the staff initiative from conception to implementation to over 75 NASPA attendees.
Ann Marie Palmer, case manager for Student Rights and Responsibilities and UCF C.A.R.E.S. team member stated, “When sharing our efforts and progress with our colleagues, it was encouraging to have them respond positively to the UCF CARES initiative. This has reaffirmed the importance of continuing our effort to educate our peers and students.”
“It was a wonderful experience presenting with my colleagues from UCF,” remarked Jeff Novak, director for Housing and Residence Life and co-chair of the UCF C.A.R.E.S. initiative.
UCF C.A.R.E.S. was established under the direction of SDES Vice President Maribeth Ehasz where a team of SDES members were charged with creating a campuswide consistent message. UCF C.A.R.E.S. stands for:
For more information, visit: https://cares.sdes.ucf.edu/ [1].