The nation's largest association of addiction professionals recently named UNLV's department of marriage, family, and community counseling as the recipient of its 2004 Organizational Achievement Award.

The selection of UNLV marks the first time NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, has bestowed its highest honor on an academic department at a public university. Larry Ashley, addictions specialist at UNLV, will accept the award at NAADAC's annual conference Oct. 6 in West Yellowstone, Mont.

" The NAADAC National Awards Committee is thrilled to present the Organizational Achievement Award to Larry Ashley and UNLV," said Edward L. Olsen, chair of the NAADAC awards committee. "Their counseling programs display the excellence all of us in the counseling professions strive for. UNLV has set the standard."

According to NAADAC, the annual award is given to addiction treatment programs that demonstrate a strong commitment to the addiction profession and particularly strong support for the individual addiction professional.

UNLV's department of marriage, family, and community counseling currently offers three undergraduate programs that focus on addiction studies: a minor in addiction treatment, a minor in addiction prevention, and the nation's only academic program to focus on compulsive gambling treatment. In addition, a new graduate certificate in addiction studies was created this past spring.

NAADAC is the largest professional membership organization for counselors who specialize in addiction treatment. With nearly 12,000 members and 47 state affiliates representing more than 80,000 addiction counselors, NAADAC works to empower addiction treatment professionals to achieve excellence through education, advocacy, knowledge, standards of practice, ethics, professional development, and research.