Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
202-387-3760 ext. 422
Humphreys@aacu.org

Daniel Hiroyuki Teraguchi
202-387-3760 ext. 429
dt@aacu.org

Program for Health and Higher Education Supports the Participation of Campus Teams in National HIV Prevention Conference

Washington, DC—May 17, 2005—The Program for Health and Higher Education (PHHE), an initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), has awarded dissemination grants to support the participation of several campuses in the 2005 National HIV Prevention Conference, scheduled for June 12-15, 2005, in Atlanta, Georgia. Teams of faculty and students from nine institutions will attend the conference, including Stony Brook University, Hampton University, Danville Area Community College, Winston-Salem State University, Wheaton College of Illinois, Georgia College and State University, San Francisco State University, Seattle Pacific University, and St. Louis Community College, Forest Park. A team of faculty, college, and high school students from SUNY-Stony Brook was selected to present their work at the conference.

Supporting participation in this conference is part of PHHE's strategy to mobilize the resources of higher education--including the energy and expertise of students--in the national and global struggle to reduce the spread and improve the management of HIV disease. Participating institutions are part of Project PITCH (Partners in Teaching Community Health) or the Sumner Symposium, both of which are national consortia of postsecondary institutions formed by PHHE that promote student engagement in community health issues, particularly HIV/AIDS. Two of the institutions, Danville Area Community College and St. Louis Community College, were nominated to be part of PHHE through the Bridges to Health Communities project of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). This conference is a way of encouraging PHHE campuses to tap into students' own knowledge and experiences, while simultaneously engaging students in preparing for and delivering academic presentations.

The National HIV Prevention Conference is convened each year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is organized by numerous national agencies and projects. The conference is designed to share effective prevention approaches and research findings among different sectors working in HIV prevention and strengthen collaborations between program practitioners and researchers in such areas as behavioral interventions, vaccine development, monitoring the epidemic, implementing rapid and reliable tests for early HIV diagnosis, and improving access to early treatment and prevention services for persons with HIV.

Though all of the campus teams will actively participate in the national conference, PHHE is also sponsoring a conference-within-a-conference in Atlanta. The program-specific activities of this conference are designed to promote networking, encourage student and faculty learning and sharing, and provide space for campus teams to draft action plans for the upcoming academic year. The high school and college students will work in small teams, independently of faculty members, with youth mentors on verbal and written self-expression projects as well as on strategies for engaging and mobilizing other youth. The faculty members will work together as a group to brainstorm strategies for sustaining HIV/AIDS efforts in the curriculum, institutionalizing HIV initiatives at their home campuses, and gaining wider buy-in to achieve these efforts.

The Program for Health and Higher Education has for nearly a decade engaged higher education in placing rigorous academic focus on the prevention of HIV infection and other complex health issues. This focus is designed to increase student knowledge about HIV and AIDS and improve undergraduate learning by fostering collaborative problem solving, interdisciplinary learning, social responsibility, and civic engagement. The current PHHE schools are all sites of continuing initiatives on HIV/AIDS. PHHE staff members are always interested in collaborating with other schools working on HIV/AIDS learning initiatives. PHHE and AACC's Bridges project are funded by a cooperative agreement (00081) with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH), Atlanta, Georgia. The contents of this press release are solely the responsibility of PHHE and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC.

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises 1,000 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.