Sigma Nu Recognized with National Awards for Sexual Assault Prevention and Bystander Intervention
Updates from Lexington
Sigma Nu Fraternity, Inc. was recognized this summer with the Power of A Silver Award presented by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). The Fraternity received this honor for its role in developing the Social Strengths Workshop, an educational program addressing sexual assault, relational violence, healthy relationships, and bystander intervention.
ASAE’s Power of A Awards, the industry’s highest honor, recognizes the association community’s valuable contributions on the local, national, and global levels. The Power of A Awards reward outstanding accomplishments of associations for their efforts to enrich lives, create a competitive workforce, prepare society for the future, drive innovation, and make a better world.
“Congratulations to Sigma Nu Fraternity and its partners for their hard work and for helping to make the world a better place,” said Sharon J. Swan, chief executive officer of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and chair of the Power of A Awards Judging Committee. “Their initiative exemplifies how associations are a positive force in our everyday lives – not just the profession or industry they represent, but to society at large.”
In early 2015, Sigma Nu partnered with Zeta Tau Alpha women’s fraternity (ZTA) to build a coalition that currently includes twelve inter/national fraternities and sororities to develop educational programs aimed at addressing sexual assault and relational aggression on college campuses. This effort included contracting with Aaron Boe, founder of Prevention Culture and specialist in non-stranger sexual assault and relational violence prevention, and spearheading the development of the initial student workshop and alumni training materials that would become the Social Strengths Workshop – a men’s specific program on sexual assault, relational violence, healthy relationships, and bystander intervention. A similar women’s specific program was developed in partnership with ZTA for use by the coalition’s sorority partners.
The Power A Silver Award is the latest distinction in a number of honors earned by the Fraternity in the last year. This past June, Sigma Nu Fraternity was presented with the North American Interfraternity Conference’s (NIC) Laurel Wreath Award for its role in developing the Social Strengths Workshop with five other national organizations. Over 6,000 Sigma Nu members completed the workshop in its first year after launching. In December 2015, Sigma Nu was presented with the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors’ (AFA) Excellence in Educational Programming Award for the LEAD Program. This award recognized the Fraternity’s continual efforts to ensure the LEAD Program is innovative and effective.
“Sigma Nu Fraternity is dedicated to providing high quality educational programs on this critical subject matter as we pursue our mission to develop ethical leaders for society,” said Brad Beacham, executive director of Sigma Nu Fraternity, Inc. “It is humbling to be recognized for our efforts by our peer organizations and industry organizations. Even more encouraging are the results we see from student evaluations that prove these programs make a measurable difference in their lives.”
This year the Fraternity will build on the success and curriculum of the Social Strengths Workshop to offer a skills and scenario-based Bystander Strengths Workshop to Sigma Nu’s collegiate chapters and colonies. This highly interactive workshop will teach techniques to identify potentially problematic situations and how to directly or indirectly intervene. Students will work through scenarios related to sexual assault, alcohol misuse, drug use, mental health, hazing, and more.