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THE NaBITA NEWSLETTER

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WELCOME TO THE NaBITA NEWSLETTER, OUR SEMI-ANNUAL COMMUNICATION WITH OUR MEMBERS, FRIENDS AND PARTNERS

Vol. 2, No. 1 May 2010

Download as .PDF here

Cordially, Brett A. Sokolow, Esq., NaBITA 2009-2010 President

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In This Issue

• NaBITA Activities Update
• NaBITA Board of Advisors
• Upcoming NaBITANARS
• 2010 Annual Conference
• NaBITA Award of Excellence
• NaBenefits
• NaBITA Partners
• Free Article -- Empowering Campus Cultures of Reporting

 

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NaBITA Activities Update

• NaBITA is pleased to announce that we now have 80 institutional members to date (compared to 53 last year), encompassing both school districts and colleges, with over 300 participating individuals from those institutions.  Our first renewals have occurred, with strong renewal commitments from members.  Thank you for prioritizing NaBITA in times of tight budgets.

• We are now in a membership drive to expand to 125 institutional members by December.  To encourage NaBITA membership, we have created a membership referral incentive.  If current members refer colleagues and friends to NaBITA, both the new member and the referring member will receive a one-category membership bump.  Tell your friends and colleagues and please encourage them to join NaBITA.  Details here.

• NaBITA's 1st Annual Conference, held in December of 2009, had 175 registrants and was hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio.  Evaluations showed this was one of the most content-rich conferences our attendees have experienced in their professional careers.  NaBITA hosted a thank you dinner on the Riverwalk with more than 30 members, featured presenters, and our hosts. 

• NaBITA produced two webinars (NaBITANARs) in 2009 which served members and non-members as well.  In a concerted effort to expand our webinar offerings, NaBITA has already offered two NaBITANARs in 2010, with four more scheduled to be presented.  Please join us.  Click here for details.  You can also click "Events" from the NaBITA homepage for an up-to-date roster of NaBITANARs.

• At the 2010 conference, president-elect Saundra K. Schuster, Esq. will take office for her 2011-2012 presidential term in a brief ceremony.  We are looking forward to her leadership and vision.  You may always contact her directly with any questions, ideas or concerns at Saundra@nabita.org.

• Membership stability and growth have allowed NaBITA to expand the roster of NaBITA events.  NaBITA will be offering two regional events in 2010-2011 in addition to our annual conference.  Details will be posted to the NaBITA site when these events are finalized.  In addition to the annual conference and two regional one-day events, NaBITA will be implementing its companion Institute in 2010.  This event will be known as the NaBITA Campus Threat Management Institute.  Click for more details below.

• Membership fees are unchanged for 2010, but membership benefits have expanded.  Based on requests from members for more team support materials, we have greatly expanded the offerings of each membership category, and will continue to do so annually.  At present, please find the following available in each membership category:

Enhanced-level members -- 82 protocols, sample policies, templates, training tools, articles, materials and the BIT KIT

Standard-level members -- 61 protocols, sample policies, templates, training tools, articles, and materials

Basic-level members -- 21 protocols, training tools, articles, and materials

 

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NaBITA Advisory Board

Given the success of NaBITA's first year, we have pursued our intention of transforming NaBITA from a proprietary association to a member-run and member-controlled association.  Right now, NaBITA is still dependent on NCHERM for staffing, but a 3-4 year timeline for independence is anticipated and feasible, if we start the planning and lay the foundation now.  Our first step to achieving independence was to a create an Advisory Board for NaBITA, which will eventually take the form of a Board of Directors.  Invitations were issued in January, and a roster of Advisory Board members was selected.  Each will serve for two years.  Your new Advisory Board members are:

• Margaret "Mickey" Hay, Ph.D., Dean of Students and Academic Support - Southwestern Michigan College
• Brett A. Sokolow, Esq., NCHERM Managing Partner; NaBITA 2009-2010 President
• Saundra K. Schuster, Esq., NCHERM Partner; NaBITA 2011-2012 President-Elect
• Charles Kenyon, Ed.D., Associate Vice President and Dean of Students - Buffalo State College
• Patricia Lunt, Ph.D., Dean of Students - Northern Virginia Community College
• Janice Murray-Laury, Vice President for Student Affairs - Kean University
• Peggy Scott, Ed.D., LPC, Director, Office of Student Rights & Responsibilities - Stephen F. Austin State University
• Corlisse Thomas, Ed.D., Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs - Baruch College/CUNY
• Daniel Timberlake, MBA, Ph.D., Director of Counseling Services - Boise State University
• Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D., Director of Counseling and Testing Center -  Western Kentucky University
• Erica Woodley, Assistant Dean of Students/Case Manager - Tulane University

We appreciate the service of our AB members, who will meet annually at the conference, and by email listserv.  Already, we have been hard a work on conference planning for 2010.

NaBITA Staff Roster:

• President – Brett A. Sokolow, Esq.

• Executive Director – Cori M. Sokolow, M.Ed.

• Associate Executive Director– Samantha Dutill
• Vice President for Workplace Initiatives – W. Scott Lewis, JD (on leave)

• Vice President for Strategic Initiatives – Carolyn Reinach Wolf, Esq.
• Vice President for K-12 Initiatives – Saundra K. Schuster, Esq. (President-Elect)
• Events Coordinator – Rebecca White, M.Ed.

 

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Upcoming NaBITANARs -- A NaBITA-hosted Webinar

4/30/10 - Campus Threat Assessment - An NCHERM/NaBITA webinar featuring Brett A. Sokolow, J.D. and W. Scott Lewis, J.D. 2:00pm to 3:30pm EST.  Click here to register online.  To pay by cheque or purchase order, please contact Samantha Dutill at Samantha@nabita.org. 

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5/17/10 - Medical Withdrawal of Students - An NCHERM/NaBITA webinar featuring Brett A. Sokolow, J.D., W. Scott Lewis, J.D. and Saundra K. Schuster, J.D. 2:00pm to 3:30pm EST.  Click here to register online.  To pay by cheque or purchase order, please contact Samantha Dutill at Samantha@nabita.org. 

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BASIC and STANDARD members are entitled to a 10% discount

ENHANCED-level members get free registration to two NaBITANARs a year.   Registration is still required. 

Please contact Samantha Dutill at Samantha@nabita.org.

 

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2010 NaBITA Annual Conference, December 1st - 3rd, 2010

The 2nd Annual NaBITAConference will be hosted from December 1st - 3rd, 2010.  Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana will be the host site.  Several conference hotels will serve the conference from the French Quarter, and daily transportation from the hotels to the conference site will be provided.  Registration for the conference will open on May 31st, 2010.  The Call for Programs will open July 15th, 2010.  Look for the comprehensive conference website with all details to be posted by May 31st, 2010.  Conference registration fees remain unchanged from 2009. 

This year, we've implementing the lessons learned from last year's conference, as well as your feedback.  The conference will open with a Keynote by Canada's premier threat assessment expert, Kevin Cameron, on the evening of Wednesday, December 1st, 2010.  This will be followed by an opening reception.  The conference will run from 9:00am - 5:00pm, on Thursday, December 2nd, 2010, with time on your own to enjoy New Orleans that evening.  The conference will run from 9:00am to 1:30pm on Friday, December 3rd, ending with a closing panel and luncheon.  Ending early on Friday will give you time to travel home for the weekend or enjoy an extended visit to New Orleans.

New this year will be the option to register for the conference only or for the conference and NaBITA's Campus Threat Management Institute, which will run concurrently with the conference, and on through noon on Sunday, December 5th, 2010.  This Institute will be run as a certification course, capped at 35 attendees.  At the end, participants will receive a certificate of completion for the four-day Institute.  At the conference, there will be a track for Institute attendees from December 1st-3rd, and then Institute attendees will remain at Tulane University for the more intimate and focused sessions on Friday afternoon, all day on Saturday, and until noon on Sunday.  A faculty of eight topical experts from law enforcement, psychology and threat assessment will serve as featured speakers at the conference, as well as lead the sessions of the Institute.  Keynote Kevin Cameron will also stay on to serve as Institute faculty.  Details will be posted by May 31st, 2010. 

 

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NaBITA Award of Excellence

Congratulations to 360° Stay Safe on being named the recipient of the 2009 NaBITA Award of Excellence!  For more information, please click here.

Without the right information, college and university students are increasingly at risk when violent crime, school shootings and Internet stalking are on the rise. 360° Stay Safe is an organization focused on being the single-best source of information on personal safety and security. The “Stay Safe at College” DVD is a new personal safety training program geared specifically for the millennial generation that helps students understand how crimes are perpetrated, and offers helpful prevention and avoidance techniques.

 

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NaBenefits

There are many benefits to NaBITA membership.  If you have not joined us already, please consider joining today.  Here are the descriptions of our member categories and what you get with your membership. 

Basic Membership

Standard Membership

Enhanced Membership

Join NaBITA Today

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NaBITA Partners

NaBITA is pleased to have a thriving partnership program, and we hope you'll take a moment to visit the sites of those organizations that help to support your association.  Partnership with NaBITA is given only after each partner is carefully vetted by our staff. 

The National Center for Higher Education Risk Management - NaBITA Partner

The Center for Aggression Management - NaBITA Partner

Maxient - NaBITA Partner

Health Management Systems of America - NaBITA Partner

360° Stay Safe at College - NaBITA Partner; 2009 NaBITA Award of Excellence Recipient

 

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But Wait, There's More ... a free, useful article in every issue

Click here to view Empowering Campus Cultures of Reporting

By: 2009-2010 NaBITA President Brett A. Sokolow, Esq.

The single most powerful way we can intervene prior the emergence of campus violence is to intentionally, actively and strategically empower a culture of reporting within the campus community and the larger related community.

In this article, we offer a comprehensive discussion of how to create, empower, expand and maintain cultures of reporting on college campuses as vital violence prevention mechanisms. It’s a revisiting of a topic you have heard us discuss previously, but treated here with a greater depth of exploration. Since the shootings at Virginia Tech, more than 1,600 college campuses have created or revised their behavioral intervention and threat assessment team capacities. Yet, no matter how well-crafted and operational these teams may be, they are only as powerful as the intel they receive from members of the community. You can’t act on what you don’t know. We talked in a recent article about the need to get the information from those who have it to those who need it: our campus behavioral intervention and threat assessment teams. We highlighted the need to empower cultures of reporting in NCHERM’s Post-Huntsville webinar, and in this article we fully develop the practical steps needed to empower reporting cultures...Click here to read the remainder of the article.