CPN representatives visited Juniata’s campus to hold an award ceremony in September 2017. During their visit, they shared a few of the reasons why they selected the College for the Prevention Excellence Award, each of which stems from the fact that Juniata is a small institution but is making great strides in terms of sexual assault or violence prevention. One of these factors includes the campus community’s dedication to prevention efforts.

“So many faculty and staff have committed themselves to getting bystander intervention training so they can be prepared to provide modeling and support to students,” says Holly Rider-Milkovich, senior director of prevention education at the CPN.

“We appreciate the recognition inherent in the EVERFI award and are proud of the measures we take as a College to combat interpersonal violence,” says Juniata President James A. Troha. “What makes Juniata’s approach unique and successful is the empowerment of people to use their voice and actions to create substantial changes.”

To create a safe, respectful, and healthy campus for all students, the College’s Title IX staff are all professionally trained by nationally recognized Title IX experts like the Association for Title IX Administrators, the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, and Magna Publications. Juniata’s students, faculty, and staff also utilize EVERFI’s HAVEN, an online training course on understanding sexual assault.

Juniata also partners with community agencies to enhance prevention efforts. As such, the College recognized local partners at the oncampus award ceremony. Community collaborators include: the Huntingdon House, the Matthew Ayers Law Project, the Huntingdon County District Attorney’s office, J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital, Huntingdon Borough Police Department, and the Abuse Network.

“Juniata received the award and we are working very hard, but we know there is so much more work to be done. And we can’t do the work alone, so we are very grateful that we can rely on collaboration with our community partners,” says Jody Althouse, director of Juniata’s Office for the Prevention of Interpersonal Violence.

One next step in Juniata’s prevention work is to collaborate with the CPN, who plans to create a case study of the College’s prevention strategies.

“We want similar institutions to use Juniata’s model to propel positive change and strengthen their own model,” says Rider-Milkovich.