Wellness. Hmm…UWG does it just like everyone else.
This week, the University of West Georgia celebrated being named “Campus of the Year” by the Butler University Wellbeing Institute. The institute helps universities across the country identify student needs and strengthen wellness programs.
UWG officials say wellness is in the university’s DNA, and President Dr. Brendan Kelly has called wellness a critical component of the university’s success.
“I look at the university like a garden, and every part of that garden has to be nurtured in different ways,” Kelly said. “The basic element needed for a garden to grow and be beautiful is health.”
Kelly highlighted programs like “Wolves Don’t Waste,” which fights food insecurity on campus by ensuring that leftovers from UWG cafeterias and events don’t go to waste. Volunteers for the program go to the venue after the event and the cafeteria during closing hours to package leftovers into individual meals. Those meals are then transported to campus center refrigerators where students can pick them up. University officials say the program has reduced food insecurity by 20%.
“I think this is one of the best programs ever devised at any university,” Kelly said, citing the fact that UWG created this initiative and is expanding to other campuses. He said this with emphasis. “We’re grateful it’s ours.”
Another point of pride that Kelly highlighted is the university’s successful partnership with other schools to launch community outreach initiatives.
“Public universities can’t just look inward,” he says. “We were supposed to serve students first, but we were also supposed to create value for businesses and the community health system. This is an expression of doing just that.”
Other UWG programs cited by the Institute for Wellbeing include “Exercise is Medicine,” which promotes physical activity as an important aspect of healthy living, and UWG has been recognized by the American College of Sports Medicine for seven consecutive years. Designated as a Gold Level campus.
The university also operates a mobile health unit that provides hands-on experiential learning for students, as well as wellness coaching for university staff by graduate students from the School of Education’s Integrative Health and Wellness Program.
UWG also offers mental health resources, such as Sharpen Minds through the Integrative Wellness Center and support through the Economic Education and Financial Literacy Center, to help students manage their personal finances responsibly.
Bridget Stewart, Chief Wellness Officer at UWG, said: “We believe true wellness is about working cross-functionally, making these aspects work across different departments and not silos. ” he said. “It’s not like the physical is here and the mental is here, all these areas should be integrated. When someone talks about physical health, it’s always about other factors. We need to talk about how it affects us.”
Stewart thanked West Georgia’s leadership for having the vision to create the Wellness Officer position. He is one of only five universities in the country to hold such a role.
“There aren’t many people in this country who hold this role as chief health officer,” she says. “It just happened to be me sitting in the middle and bringing everyone to the table. As we improve in other areas, such as Division I athletics, we will continue to improve our efforts in the wellness area. Masu.”
