Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
Vice President for Communications
and Public Affairs
202.387-3760 ext. 422
humphreys@aacu.org

Thirty-Nine Colleges and Universities to Study the Impact of Engaged Learning on Student Depression and Substance Abuse

Opening Meeting of Project to Feature Release of Report, “Bringing Theory to Practice: Depression, Substance Abuse, and College Student Engagement”

Event: Bringing Theory to Practice Action-Conference
Date: April 15-17, 2004
Location: Intercontinental Hotel, Chicago

Washington, DC—March 30, 2004—Evidence of alarming rates of depression and substance abuse among college students is mounting. Far less evidence exists about how the use and support of engaged learning strategies could reduce rates of depression or substance abuse in college. This conference launches a multi-year initiative sponsored by the Charles Engelhard Foundation that will support thirty-nine college campuses as they develop and evaluate engaged learning strategies—such as service-learning or collaborative undergraduate research—designed to prevent or reduce these debilitating behaviors.

At the conference, the project will formally release a new review of research on the prevalence and patterns of depression and substance abuse among college students. Academic leaders, faculty members, researchers, practitioners, and students comprising teams from each of the participating campuses will explore promising strategies for addressing these issues in the current college environment.

“Campuses are individually struggling to address the immediate and acute issues of student depression and substance abuse,” said Dr. Donald W. Harward, project director, President Emeritus of Bates College, and senior fellow at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). “Much of that needs to be shared, supported, and encouraged across campuses. However, to address the longer term and systemic factors that affect the health and behavior of our students, faculty and academic leaders must be involved.

This project explores what can be done specifically in academic settings and what might be the resulting benefits of placing emphasis on engaged forms of student learning. The whole of the academy must more effectively address alcohol abuse and depression among students.”

Featured speakers at the meeting will include: L. Lee Knefelkamp, professor of psychology and education, Teachers College, Columbia University; Richard H. Hersh, senior fellow, Rand Corporation’s Council for Aid to Education, and former President, Trinity College, Connecticut; Laurie Davidson, associate director, Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention, Education Development Center, Inc.; Robert Wm. Blum, professor and director, Center for Adolescent Health and Development, University of Minnesota; Caryn McTighe Musil, senior vice president and co-director, Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement, AAC&U; Richard P. Keeling, former editor, Journal of American College Health, and president, Foundation for Health in Higher Education; Dr. Thomas H. Borneman, Director of Mental Health Programs, The Carter Center; Dr. Ralph E. Tarter, Director, Center for Drug Abuse Research, The University of Pittsburgh; Dr. Thomas O’Toole, Professor of Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical University; Dr. Jonathan Metzl, Department of Psychiatry and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan; Dr. Barry Checkoway, Director of the Ginsburg Center, University of Michigan; Dr. Bernard S. Arons, Senior Scientist, National Institute of Mental Health; H. Wesley Perkins, Professor of Sociology Hobart and William Smith Colleges; and Susan Foster, Vice President and Director of Research and Policy at the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

See attached for a list of participating institutions and www.aacu.org/bringing_theory/ for more information about the project. Contact Jennifer Reynolds, Project Coordinator, at Reynolds@aacu.org or 202-387-3760, ext. 815 to receive an advance copy of the report, “Bringing Theory to Practice: Depression, Substance Abuse, and College Student Engagement.”

BRINGING THEORY TO PRACTICE PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS

Bates College
Boston College
College of Wooster
Cornell University
Dickinson College
Drew University
Duke University
Earlham College
Emory University
The Evergreen State College
Franklin and Marshall College
Georgetown University
Gettysburg College
Goucher College
Guilford College
Hamilton College
Johnson State College
Princeton University
Ramapo University
Regis College
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
St. Mary’s College of California
Sarah Lawrence College
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Syracuse University
Tufts University
Tusculum College
University of California-Davis
University of Delaware
University of Hartford
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Kansas
University of Maryland Baltimore County
University of Michigan
Vanderbilt University
Wabash College
Warren Wilson College
Wellesley College
Willamette University

For additional information, contact Jennifer Reynolds, Project Coordinator, at Reynolds@aacu.org or 202-387-3760, ext. 815.

AAC&U is the leading national association devoted to advancing and strengthening liberal learning for all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Since its founding in 1915, AAC&U’s membership has grown to more than 1000 accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found at www.aacu.org.