Jane Curtis, a health educator for the California Institute of Technology with more than 10 years of experience in alcohol and drug prevention, has been named the new director of alcohol programs at the University of Colorado at Boulder, replacing outgoing director Robert Maust who will retire at the end of August.
Maust has been director since 1997 of A Matter of Degree, CU-Boulder's alcohol education program. With the hiring of Curtis, CU-Boulder's alcohol and substance abuse program will be renamed the Alcohol and Other Drugs Program.
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Deb Coffin said,
"Bob has brought tremendous leadership in furthering our understanding of the impacts of alcohol and built partnerships between the campus and Boulder community in prevention, education and responsibility for addressing the misuse of alcohol and other drugs by students."
Curtis said she is "very excited about the opportunity to work with a wide range of constituents, including students, faculty, staff and community members to address the negative impacts of alcohol and other drugs and build a healthier community for all."
She began her appointment as director of the Alcohol and Other Drugs Program on July 16.
Curtis has extensive experience in alcohol education, intervention and policy development, in addition to experience developing health and wellness programs and grant administration. As health educator at CalTech in Pasadena, Curtis designed, implemented and evaluated the campus's health education programs and worked with counselors and health center staff to incorporate preventative practices in the student treatment plan.
A key part of her approach was to provide students with concrete strategies - based on the latest research - to help them avoid such health risks as binge drinking, drug use and unsafe sexual behavior. She encourages students to deal positively with the challenges of college life and to seek a healthy balance between academic pursuits and life outside the classroom.
Curtis also conducted a needs assessment survey at CalTech to establish health education priorities, which focused on alcohol and drug prevention, sleep deprivation, relationship issues and stress. She helped develop new student orientation programs and instituted an AlcoholEdu program at CalTech, created a Student Health Advisory Council to generate feedback on health-related programs and developed a health education Web site.
As a graduate teaching assistant at Oregon State University, Curtis served for two years as interim coordinator for the Women's Center. At California State University, Long Beach she was principal investigator on an award-winning research study titled "Changing Students' Attitudes Toward Rape: Evaluating a Campus-Wide Rape Prevention Program."
"We are thrilled to have a professional of Jane's caliber join the campus, and one who is also committed to creating a healthier environment for students and the community," said Coffin.
More information on CU-Boulder alcohol programs is available on the Web at .