College drinking is often treated like an individual choice problem — “students just need to make better decisions.”

In this episode, we zoom out and look at the bigger lever: culture and environment. Host Dave Closson is joined by Kate Lower (SHIFT, University of Texas at Austin) and Keyra Palacios (UT Austin student & SHIFT Maker) for a practical conversation about what prevention looks like when you center student experience, take environmental strategies seriously, and bring a harm reduction mindset into real campus life.

You’ll hear:

• What SHIFT is (in plain language) — and why culture change beats slogans
• How campus and “game day” environments shape norms and expectations
• Why “preventable measures” matter — and what they look like on the ground
• Keyra’s perspective as an economics major (not a public health major) doing prevention work
• A real-world story that captures the SHIFT mindset: bringing a first-aid kit to a party
• Why health communication is hard — especially when students and powerful stakeholders have competing incentives
• Takeaways for prevention leaders, campuses, and studentsVisit: https://shift.utexas.edu/