University of Florida (UF)

With more than 50,000 full-time students, the University of Florida (UF) identifies excessive alcohol consumption as the number one social and health problem on campus. During the years from 2004 to 2008, as a result of multiple interventions, the UF high-risk drinking rate decreased by 12.1 percent. Prevention efforts are part of a comprehensive strategy, guided by the social ecological model. Multilevel interventions target alcohol issues at the individual, campus, and community levels. Past successes have been achieved through the following: use of evidence-based practices, social marketing campaigns, varied on-campus policy changes and consistent enforcement, and strong administrative leadership and support from the president’s office. Current Department of Education funding will target enhancing and sustaining past programmatic efforts and success, as well as more stringent evaluation of UF’s comprehensive prevention interventions through a quasi-experimental design. The program will also continue to increase awareness among community members, key stakeholders, and policymakers to sustain decreases in high-risk drinking rates.