Ryan M. Travia, Harvard’s director of alcohol and other drug services, was honored at a national convention in Atlanta on Saturday.

“It was a total surprise,” Travia said yesterday. “I heard my name and sort of blanked after that. It was all a blur.”

Travia was one of five honored as “National Outstanding Advisors” at the assembly, which hosted 148 colleges and is the largest conference of peer educators in the country. The annual event is held by the BACCHUS Network, an international organization dedicated to promoting peer-based education on drug and alcohol use. (The acronym stands for Boosting Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students.)

The five winners were chosen from a pool of twenty nominees.

“We look for someone who goes beyond the expected duties on campus; someone who treats students as leaders and doesn’t do the work for them but truly advises them,” said BACCHUS Network Vice President and COO Janet E. Cox.

Travia, who came to Harvard in August 2005, is the university’s first director of alcohol and other drug services. He is responsible for the school’s Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisor (DAPA) program, through which 30 undergraduates have received training in drug and alcohol education and counseling.

DAPA member Shiv M. Gaglani ‘10 proposed nominating Travia for the award. “Ryan has single-handedly started this whole program,” Gaglani said. “He’s been a great mentor and a great advisor.”

Travia is the mind behind Harvard’s social-norms initiative, which distributes pens, notepads, and Nalgene bottles emblazoned with statistics of Harvard students’ healthy drinking habits. He has also increased alcohol education and workshops for freshmen, and has seen Harvard’s National Alcohol Screening Day boast the highest campus-wide participation in the country.

“To be able to work with students who are truly struggling with substance abuse issues...can be really powerful,” said Travia. But he emphasizes students’ contribution to the program. “Nothing will change unless we have a student voice behind our efforts,” he said.