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The Peer Education Program, a presence on this campus for more than 20 years, will soon be assessed by the Deans of Students office in an effort to evaluate the program’s role on campus and refocus its mission. The assessment, which is currently in the preliminary stages, will take place over the course of the semester and affect how Peer Ed operates in the future, said Barbara Smith, director of Residential Life and Programs.
The assessment comes as part of a broader reorganization of Residence Life and Programs’ parent, the Division of Student Affairs, said Robert Dana, dean of students. In assessing this program and others, Dana said he hopes to start discussing the integration of all areas that have to do with “life skills, wellness and the primary prevention of social ills.”
The program, long a staple at the University of Maine, has seen more than one administrative home – though all in the Division of Student Affairs – and has fallen under the watch of Residential Life and Programs for the past two years.
While the concept of peers educating peers is one that the current administration values, the campus has rearranged the program in the past several years, and many other groups have assumed some of the roles that Peer Ed used to provide, Smith said.
“It makes sense to reassess where [the program] is going and what its niche is,” Smith said.
In the late nineties, Peer Ed was a big force on campus as the only peer-educating group, explained Angela Fiandaca, the graduate assistant who heads the program this year. Other groups, such as A.D.A.P.T., Greek Peer Ed, Multicultural Ambassadors and the Onward Program have all assumed some of the roles which The Peer Education Program used to fill, Smith said.
“Nobody is doubting the educational impact of peers educating peers,” Smith said.
Peer Ed’s current program dates back to a time when RAs were considered program representatives and were required to plan activities in the halls during the week. While Peer Ed filled that role in the past, now RAs work in community development models, where presentations are brought in based on the needs of the community, she said.
“It’s like you have this really great round peg, but you don’t have a round hole,” said Smith.
However, there are some instances in which Peer Ed is the only provider of these services. Peer Ed, with about eight or nine students on staff currently, is the only group that has student employees working to advance student’s concerns. While some of the students are paid through work study, other students have elected to work in the office for credit, Smith said.
“Coordination of a lot of things on campus is a big part of this,” Dana said.
In years past, Peer Ed featured about 14 student workers, said Jodi Munster, a peer educator who has been with the program for five semesters. This year there was pressure from administration to keep the number of staff low. Also, because the Peer Ed class can only be taken for credit a limited number of times and not everyone has work study, there is a high turnover rate, Munster said.
Because of the changing dynamic of campus, Peer Ed has added a lot more programs in the past few years, Munster said.
Today, Peer Ed has grown to encompass the topics of safe sex, pregnancy, living with roommates, sexual assault awareness and developing study skills. Presentations are typically made in the residence halls, and the program has done presentations for classes by invitation. In addition, the educators send out bulletin boards to the halls each month, make “potty posters” for them twice a month and assemble an awareness project each month, such as “Alcohol Awareness Month,” she said.
“Being on campus is a great way to be educated for school, but there are a whole lot of other ways that people need to be educated,” Munster said.
Though administrators agree the program is on the right track, they look forward to the results of the assessment.
“I definitely support this reassessment,” Fiandaca said. “Reassessing where it’s at now can only help the program and the students that we serve.”
Smith said she felt now is the appropriate time to act on assessing the program, as it has spent a fair amount of time within Residential Life and Programs.
“You should be assessing a program all the time, but you want to be genuine in your assessment,” Smith said.
“If you don’t look inward, you’ll never really know what’s going on,” Dana said.
Goals of the assessment include improving the program to the best of its ability under the current budget, making the program more synergistic and focusing on creating competent, capable students from a life skills perspective. These students can make a community that is a more caring and safe environment, where students can learn and grow, Dana said.
“We have to be flexible and responsive to student needs and I want to make sure that’s true for every program to which I am responsible,” said Dana.
Proposals from the Peer Ed staff are due to the dean’s office by Nov. 1, and Dana indicated that he would decide on how the office will proceed by Dec. 1.
As of now, the only decision that would affect the program this year might be that Peer Ed might be relocated from Estabrooke Hall or have to adapt some resources.
“I hope from this that the deans and everybody will be on the same page in that [Peer Ed] has great potential to make a difference on this campus,” Fiandaca said.
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