A partnership announced Wednesday between the New York State Department of Health and the State University of New York is intended to help college faculty, staff and students at Canton and Potsdam SUNY schools and others around the state to identify sexual assault and interpersonal violence, as well as learn safe methods of intervention.

Training will use existing research related to sexual violence prevention on college campuses to teach bystanders how to intervene safely before, during and after an incident of sexual abuse, relationship violence, or stalking.

The training is supported by an existing $496,000 federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rape Prevention and Education Program grant. All SUNY campuses are eligible to participate at no cost to the school.

Following training, SUNY faculty and staff are certified to implement bystander intervention training programs with the entire student body.

SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher said, "Through these training programs, we will provide students, faculty, and staff with new insight into how to recognize an incident of violence before it occurs and teach them a few actions they can take that may prevent it from happening.”