Goal 5:

Foster a collegial, trusting and tolerant campus climate

Preventing drug and alcohol abuse

Over the last year, the university and the Menomonie area community continued to make significant progress to change the local alcohol and other drug abuse environment. The following are a few key activities conducted in the past year:

The Chancellor's Coalition Addressing Problem Drinking provided a strong campus support system for AOD prevention activities. Between 12 and 20 students, faculty and staff members met monthly to share information and training. Many also participated in community partnership activities.
A Coalition "faculty involvement" subcommittee was formed. This small group has developed a PowerPoint presentation and has begun to share the AOD story in academic departmental meetings.
UW-Stout faculty, a student representative and the Student Services Office worked closely with the UW System AOD Task Force, participating in meetings, helping to design and deliver a systemwide AOD use survey, providing consultation on a number of AOD issues, and attending meetings and workshops.
With partnership support, a UW-Stout student began designing a "Community Listening Sessions" program. One-hour presentations will be offered to various community and campus groups, generating a two-way discussion about youth access to alcohol.
UW-Stout Alcohol and Other Drug Education Program staff contracted to design and conduct several research projects this year including the third Menomonie High School Survey, the UW System Student AOD Use Survey, plus a Vilas County Readiness Survey contract that generated $7,250.

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Mentoring for faculty and staff

The Women's Faculty Mentoring Program, the Women's Academic Staff Mentoring Program, and the Classified Staff Mentoring Program continue to be successful at UW-Stout.

The Women's Academic Staff Mentoring Program offers four group events annually. "Brown Bag Lunches" are also offered twice a month, serving as an opportunity for staff and faculty to get to know one another through group lunches. The program also had an information table at the Optimal Health Fair in 2003 and 2004, and had a table at the Women's Studies conference at UW-Stout in 2003. In addition, featured events were held several times throughout the year with a total of 151 attendees across the events:

Orientation Program Event
Perennial Exchange
UW-Stout Resources and Opportunities
Leadership Panel
Feng Shui in the Office

The Faculty and Academic Staff Mentoring programs received a joint Professional Development Grant in fall 2003. The grant provided funding for:

a group of academic staff and faculty women to attend the regional WWHEL workshop held at UW-Stout.
Learning to Lead: Strategies for Personal and Professional Success, a day-long workshop.

The Classified Mentoring Program also continues to help those new to the university. Mentors for the program are intended to serve as a "welcome" for new classified employees; to provide helpful information about the campus; to be a "point of contact" for questions and directions; and to foster a comfortable and secure feeling for new employees while enriching and strengthening the campus climate. Preferably, a mentor and mentee meet two to three times per month.

In addition, a new Classified Advisory Group was formed following a request from the classified staff. This group will provide more professional development opportunities for classified staff and spearhead a recognition award system for classified employees, among other things.