Iona University Incorporates Vector Courses to Support Student Safety and Well-Being Programming

The Customer

Iona University, New Rochelle, New York

The Challenge

Iona University is a private Roman Catholic university serving nearly 4,000 students on an urban campus 20 minutes north of New York City. The university is known for its engaging curricula and providing a nurturing community that empowers students to excel.

Supporting students’ safety and well-being is key to creating this environment, and Iona University prioritizes prevention programming to meet this need. When seeking ways to bolster its prevention programming, the university needed to meet some specific needs:

• It needed prevention education that would help the university meet compliance requirements and that was also relevant, engaging, and effective in preparing students for challenges they may face on campus regarding safety and well-being.
• As a private institution, Iona University wanted to maximize its resources, so it needed to be strategic about the products and programs it adopts. The university, therefore, needed prevention programming that would help it broaden the impact of its well-being programming using existing staff while also providing a significant return on investment.

The Choice

Iona University selected Vector Solutions as its partner to provide online courses for staff and students on critical topics such as compliance, safety, and well-being. University leaders chose to utilize Vector’s full site-wide solution for several reasons.

• Vector provides courses tailored to specific populations of students. Being able to provide relevant instruction to specific student groups was important. Vector’s courses allow the university to provide all new and incoming students with a baseline of knowledge on a broad variety of issues they may encounter on campus. Meanwhile, students who are in athletic programs, Greek organizations, and other clubs and activities can also receive additional training tailored to the specific challenges they may encounter due to being part of those groups.

“Prevention training for athletes is huge because they are high-risk populations at any institution,” said Jennifer Lykins, Iona University’s Title IX Coordinator/Employee Relations Specialist. “We have also been wanting to increase our training for student leaders in Greek organizations and club sports.”

• There are a variety of course options for ongoing training. University leaders appreciate that students don’t take the same courses yearly. “I think that’s the biggest complaint we heard previously is ‘We did that training already. It’s not new, it’s not different.’ So, by having a site-wide license (for Vector’s courses), we can switch it up and provide some different types of courses, focusing on different skills,” said Lykins.
• The Vector platform provides robust reporting and data. Vector’s courses include pre- and post-assessments and data reports that help inform prevention efforts and help university staff measure effectiveness. The university saw this as a significant benefit.
• The courses are available in multiple languages. Iona University has a significant population of employees for whom Spanish is their primary language. Having the online training courses available in Spanish was a significant benefit.
• The courses help support compliance. This was a key point of value for Iona University, especially when it came to staff training around Title IX regulations and hazing prevention.

The Change

Iona University deploys Vector’s courses as a mandatory part of orientation for incoming students. Students and parents attend an orientation event in June, and the students are assigned courses on hazing, alcohol and substance misuse prevention, sexual assault prevention, mental well-being, and more. They complete the courses over the summer before arriving on campus in the fall. Iona University also uses Vector’s courses tailored to specific populations of students, including athletes and Greek organizations.

Adopting Vector’s courses has helped the university:

• Meet compliance requirements while also providing students with relevant, engaging training on important safety and well-being topics.
• Expand the reach of its prevention education without requiring it to hire additional staff. Lykins is able to deploy Vector courses to both staff and students. She also deploys courses at various times throughout the year, such as Domestic Violence Prevention Month, to reinforce skills. Using Vector allows the university to meet these multiple needs without purchasing different products.
• Provide targeted support to special populations of students. “Vector has helped in getting folks from around campus to buy-in and recognize that all of our different populations need different levels of training,” said Lykins. “It allows us to really think intentionally about how all of these different groups need different training.”
• Support an overall culture of care and ensure that students and parents have peace of mind that the university is focused on students’ well-being.

Vector’s courses are effective in providing both foundational training and helping to reinforce skills throughout the year. For instance, in one Vector course students learn about strategies for bystander intervention. “When we go to do an in-person training, the students already know that information and can say, ‘oh, I remember this!’ That to me it is the best example of what we’re doing is working.”

A Comprehensive Prevention Effort

Vector courses are just one component of a robust prevention effort at Iona University, helping students understand safety and well-being issues and develop skills to navigate challenges on campus. “Post-COVID, students’ personal skills are very different,” Lykins said. “They tend to be more avoidant. They struggle to connect beyond screens and social media. They crave human interaction but don’t necessarily know how to do that. This leads to issues in the Title IX realm related to how a lack of communication can lead to a lack of consent. The soft skills of helping students connect is important,” Lykins said. In addition to using Vector’s courses, Iona University also provides in-person training and has a counseling center that offers 24-hour support so students can call after-hours and speak to a counselor.

About Vector Solutions

Vector Solutions provides a wide variety of courses for higher education staff and students focusing on key compliance, safety and well-being topics.  Course libraries include:

Courses for Staff

• Harassment, Discrimination & Sexual Assault Prevention
• Athletics
• Human Resources & Workforce Management
• Security and Risk Mitigation
• Environmental Health & Facilities Management
• Facilities Maintenance

Courses for Students 

• Alcohol & Drug Misuse Prevention
• Sexual Assault Prevention
• Wellness & Safety
• Athletics
• Career Readiness & Personal Development
• Fraternity & Sorority Life