By building on the existing infrastructure and current addictions-related initiatives at Boise State University, the Institute for the Study of Addiction received the 2010 Award for Outstanding National Program from the International Association for Addiction and Offender Counseling at the American Counseling Association’s international conference. The institute is a joint effort by the College of Education and the College of Health Sciences, though the institute’s activities sometimes involve academic units from the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Division of Extended Studies, and the Center for Professional Development. The Institute has successfully incorporated the Idaho Regional Alcohol Drug Awareness Resource (RADAR) Network, which has hired a new director, Teri Carrigan, who will also serve on the institute’s leadership team with Ken Coll, College of Education, Diana Doumas, College of Education, and Susan Esp, College of Health Sciences.
The institute aims to foster partnerships between the faculty and students of Boise State and other universities, the local community, and the state and region. By partnering with the State of Idaho for the Global Appraisal for Individual Needs (GAIN) training and workforce development initiative, the institute trained four site-interviewers in academic year 2011 and three in academic year 2010. In addition, the institute represented Idaho universities on the Governor’s Task Force on Transformation of Behavioral Health and the leadership team members served on the Idaho Conference for Alcohol and Drug Dependency planning group.
The institute aims to conduct and coordinate relevant research and to disseminate findings which target the three key addictions areas of primary prevention, secondary prevention and treatment (tertiary services). In line with this, the institute’s faculty published seven refereed journal articles in the 2010-2011 academic year, involving six students in the process. In the same year, institute entities were awarded more than $250,000 in grants and contracts.
The institute also aims to develop and deliver comprehensive alcohol and other drug professional development training to address the training needs of various local, state, and regional entities. Fourteen students received scholarships from the institute to present at regional and national conferences on substance abuse related issues. The institute’s faculty delivered 11 student/faculty presentations at local invited trainings and at regional and national conferences.
Currently, the leadership team is engaging in on-going strategic panning for the institute.