![\"President](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/jefferson-award-glassman-by-dan.jpg\" "\\"jefferson-award-glassman-by-dan\\"")
<\/a>President Lloyd Jacobs, left, recognized Dr. Tavis Glassman as the Jefferson Award Champion last month.<\/p><\/div>Dr. Tavis Glassman literally lived his commitment to community service from 2008 to 2010.<\/p>\n
During two academic years, the Jefferson Award \u201cChampion\u201d honoree immersed himself in UT\u2019s student population as the University\u2019s first Faculty in Residence, living among underclassmen in MacKinnon Hall.<\/p>\n
Creating monthly educational programs that included \u201cSex, Lies and Chocolate\u201d and \u201cSex, Drugs and Dead Celebrities,\u201d Glassman sparked ongoing dialogues with students, many of whom were living away from home for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you do a dry, discussion-type presentation, students tend to run the other way,\u201d Glassman, a native Coloradoan who moved to northwest Ohio in his teens, said. \u201cI\u2019d start a list of celebrities who\u2019ve died as the result of alcohol or substance abuse with people like Marilyn Monroe, but when I got to Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson, students would sigh with strong emotion.\u201d <\/p>\n
Glassman, an assistant professor of health education, earned bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees from UT, with an additional master\u2019s degree from Ohio State University and a doctorate from the University of Florida. He specializes in college health issues, an interest that began during his undergraduate studies at UT. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith alcohol, I thought it was part of the college deal, like everyone else,\u201d Glassman said. <\/p>\n
Once he realized that alcohol-related issues were the No. 1 cause of death in his peers, he\u2019d found a calling. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome young people just don\u2019t know what can happen with alcohol,\u201d he said. \u201cThey think everyone drinks, which isn\u2019t the case. They don\u2019t realize the problems alcohol can cause to their health, their academic success, and to society in terms of crime and health-care costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a member of UT\u2019s Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Prevention Committee, Glassman has taken an active role in crafting an amnesty policy to encourage students to report substance abuse, a tobacco policy that restricts use on Main Campus, and a variety of events promoting awareness and education. <\/p>\n
Last year, more than 500 people, mostly students, took part in a program that challenged participants to reduce or abstain from consuming alcohol for 30 days. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal wasn\u2019t abstinence as much as it was awareness of students\u2019 own behaviors,\u201d Glassman explained. \u201cSome students are completely unaware of how much they drink and how it becomes immersed in their social lives. Some who finished the challenge were really surprised. The affect was pretty profound.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glassman said the committee will offer the challenge again this fall and welcomes sharing it with other institutions. <\/p>\n
His Jefferson Award nomination notes that Glassman\u2019s efforts have contributed to a decrease in high-risk drinking behaviors among UT students: \u201cDr. Glassman spends a great deal of time outside regular work hours mentoring students and staff so we at UT may affect real change through collaboration and environmental efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glassman, who\u2019s been at UT for three years, sees unlimited opportunities to explore, educate and promote safer health practices among college youth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really just a health zealot interested in how health systems and cultures affect people,\u201d Glassman said. \u201cUnfortunately, there\u2019s always something new to be addressed as far as health issues are concerned.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. Tavis Glassman, UT assistant professor of health education, was named the University’s Jefferson Award Champion last month for his alcohol education efforts with students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}