The Golden Panther Arena was packed to the rafters to welcome His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.
A new peace monument was blessed by the Dalai Lama. Seen are (from left) Nathan Katz, chair of Religious Studies; the Dalai Lama; Pat Frost, chair of the FIU Foundation board; and Mark Rosenberg, provost and acting president.
The Dalai Lama's message focused on the universal values of peace and love.
Nathan Katz, chair of Religious Studies, who has known the Dalai Lama for many years and invited him to visit FIU (left) and his son, Rafael, welcome the Dalai Lama.
On April 16, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet visited FIU. The event was a very special day in which the University welcomed thousands of visitors and the largest media contingent to ever visit University Park. Thanks go to the faculty and staff who organized and carried out this historic event -- and to all the other members of the University community who helped show off FIU's "best side." The archived cybercast of the event can be viewed at www.worldpuja.com, and WLRN-Channel 17 will broadcast a program chronicling the visit in the near future.
A research project being conducted by a faculty member in the College of Urban and Public Affairs (CUPA) is helping teenagers in the Broward County Public Schools cope with alcohol use problems.
The Teen Intervention Project, which is being funded by a $1,678,840 five-year grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, is the brainchild of Eric Wagner, an associate professor in CUPA's School of Social Work and the Metropolitan Center. He conducted similar research on a more limited scale at Brown University's Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies.
Wagner, who holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and whose research focuses on adolescent substance abuse and related problems, noted that this interest originated, in part, from his former line of work as a professional musician.
"Lots of people whom I worked with in music had substance use problems, and more often than not these problems started during their adolescence," he said.
In the current study, Wagner is comparing the effectiveness of school-based group counseling versus referrals to community-based programs for addressing substance use problems among teenagers. The study, which will conclude in November 2001, is being conducted with 560 teenagers from 18 middle and senior high schools.
"We think both approaches can be effective, but the effectiveness of each approach may vary with different types of kids," said Wagner. "We want to learn which kids need which types of services."
- Primary Aim: To evaluate the impact of early intervention approaches for teen alcohol abuse on alcohol use and related outcomes.
- Secondary Aim: To examine the association between depressive symptoms and alcohol use in adolescence.
- Tertiary Aim: To examine the impact of other potential predictor variables (i.e., alcohol expectancies, problem behaviors, social support) on substance use outcomes of alcohol-abusing teens referred for intervention.
The students who participate in the study (which requires both the students' and parents' written consent) are those who are in the early stages of substance use problems; those with more serious problems are referred to other more intensive treatment programs. The 10-session school-based counseling is conducted free of charge and includes topics such as patterns associated with substance use; ways to reduce and stop substance use; methods to manage stress and temptations; and how to live a healthy, non-substance-involved lifestyle. The counseling content of the community-based referral approach varies and is determined by independent community providers.
Preliminary findings of the Teen Intervention Project based on 144 students participating in a pilot study of the school-based counseling approach indicate 86 percent of students stopped or significantly decreased their substance use, and 73 percent of the students rated the experience as positive.