Newswise — Effective with the start of the Fall 2015 semester on Monday, August 24, Broward College will be a tobacco-free and smoke-free campus. The Broward College Board of Trustees recently approved the policy to further promote a safe and healthy environment for faculty, staff, students and the community.

“Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in this country,” said Brenda Bordogna, Broward College’s employee wellness program manager. “Adopting a tobacco and smoke-free policy is our commitment as an institution of higher education to provide a safe and healthy environment for the college community to learn, work and visit.”

When the policy goes into effect, smoking or use of tobacco products, objects or devices, including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, electronic cigars or smokeless tobacco products will be prohibited on all Broward College campuses and centers. This includes inside buildings, administrative facilities or anywhere on campus grounds, such as sidewalks, athletic fields and parking lots or garages.

To ease the transition for staff and students who are tobacco users, onsite tobacco cessation programs will be offered through a partnership with Nova Southeastern University’s Area Health Education Centers program, which will train and use Broward College’s RN-BSN nursing students as smoking cessation facilitators.

For more information, visit http://broward.edu/tobaccofree or contact Angela Nicoletti at 954-201-7939 or [email protected].

About Broward College:

Serving more than 68,000 students annually, Broward College provides residents with certificate programs, two-year university-transfer degrees, two-year career degrees and baccalaureate degrees in selected programs. The mission of the college is to provide high-quality educational programs and services that are affordable and accessible to a diverse community of learners. For more information, visit www.broward.edu.