Apply today to be featured in NIRSA’s “Promising Practice” series

Since 2020, NIRSA has developed and evolved a multilayered resource for Association members called NIRSA’s Promising Practices. The goal of the Promising Practices series is to provide an immersive and fun educational experience for NIRSA members, empowering them to facilitate positive change in the wellbeing of students and communities served by their campus.

A NIRSA Promising Practice offers members an educational, inspirational story about how leading institutions have made transformative change. The three-part resource includes a teaser video; a PDF that guides readers through the what and how of their work; and an interactive, virtual webinar that allows participants to ask specific questions, giving them a chance to learn and gain insights from the presenter that can be put into use immediately.

The Promising Practices material focuses on the collaboration and integration that can be implemented at any institution type regardless of resources. Furthermore, we aim to highlight schools whose initiatives have been fully launched and implemented while also acknowledging that wellbeing efforts involve ever-moving targets that are never “done.”

So, you might be wondering how you and your institution can get involved? For the first time since 2022, we’re opening the call for schools to be featured in the series. We need professionals who have an energy and enthusiasm for sharing what their departments and institutions are accomplishing in the space of wellbeing.

Take a few minutes to explore the reflections from participating institution professionals and from a past webinar participant that show why being featured in this NIRSA resource has been valuable at the individual and institutional levels.

Institutional testimonials

Rowan University

“Participating and sharing our wellbeing initiative provided a comprehensive assessment not only of our past attempts at a holistic framework, but also a way to document our current initiatives and goals for the future. Producing the video provided impactful storytelling while the educational brief organized and shared information about the specific collaborative and meaningful campus partners we work with. As we continually share best practices within our collegiate recreation industry, having the three components readily shared to support the wellbeing movement of other institutions is a great platform to show our higher education commitment to a community and systemic wellbeing collaborative.” – Kevin George, Director of Campus Recreation

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

“Participating in NIRSA’s Promising Practices was a unique opportunity to look at our campus initiatives from a different perspective and really dig into the results of what we had been doing for several years. Creating the video resulted in an invaluable resource to market and showcase our programming, and the experience has provided many opportunities to connect and collaborate with other campuses.” – Jessica Kirby, PhD, Assistant Professor, Health Sciences

University of Richmond

“Being honored as a NIRSA Promising Practice allowed the University of Richmond to share the hard work being done on our campus by colleagues, the unique collaborations we have created, the support of administration we have garnered, and the overarching achievement that is creating a culture of wellbeing. Additionally, being a Promising Practice—and working with others within NIRSA—opened our eyes to our own blind spots and areas of opportunity to grown or modify our programs and services. While we believe that we embody a well campus, we know that wellbeing is not a destination and there is always room to evolve. We’re grateful for the opportunity to be a NIRSA Promising Practice and able to share our initiative that we are proud of as well as an initiative that positively impacts our students, faculty, staff, and the entire Spider family.” – Marti Tomlin, Director of University Recreation

Oakland University

“Oakland University was honored to be the first selected Promising Practice showcased by NIRSA. Beyond having our work shared nationally and with our university, the time that was spent in developing the video and print material was something that provided new experiences and professional development opportunities for University Recreation and Well-Being staff and campus colleagues. The culmination of seeing the project through to completion was a great way for those who were involved over the years in launching and supporting our healthy campus plan to realize the positive impact our work was having on our campus community. All too often we get caught up in the day to day of getting things done, and the purpose of our work gets lost. Anyone considering applying to be recognized as a Promising Practice should definitely do so. Seeing the work in print and on video—and then sharing about it in a roundtable with colleagues—was both rewarding and exciting.” – Becky Lewis, Associate Director, Recreation and Well-Being

Participant testimonial

“The recent University of Richmond Promising Practices webinar was beneficial in three important ways. The first is to reinforce the importance of getting buy-in for wellness throughout your campus from the top down. Second, it provided a reminder that strong relationships with those doing the work is critical to propelling initiatives and maintaining momentum. And third, the webinar did a great job of sharing some practical examples that we can implement on our campus.” – Anonymous

Apply to have your school’s Promising Practice showcased

The current call for applications will be open September 1 through October 31. It is a priority to showcase a variety of institutions both in size and scope of accomplishment—please consider applying regardless of the size of your enrollment or your budget. Apply via a short Google form.

Why apply?

Once an institution is selected, the NIRSA Health and Wellbeing Task Force’s Promising Practices Work Group will guide the institutional partner through the creation of a stellar, three-part resource! Accepted applicants will be guided through all aspects of content submission as well as have an opportunity to provide feedback and support along the way. New for 2024, Promising Practice institutions will have the opportunity to work with a dedicated writer on the development of the PDF content! The writer will interview the school and produce the initial draft content. Be sure to take advantage of this great opportunity!

Each 2024 NIRSA Promising Practice will include:

• A brief teaser video (under three minutes), to overview and highlight the initiative
• A templated PDF document offering readers a deeper dive into the initiative, how it got started, where it’s going next, and the impact it’s having on campus
• A follow-up webinar where members can bring their questions and ‘ask the experts’ behind the Promising Practice

What’s an example of a potential Promising Practice?

There are lots of great examples of schools integrating wellbeing on campus from across NIRSA’s membership. We hope all members will consider applying! To get the wheels turning see the Promising Practices pages of NIRSA Learning.

1. Oakland University
2. Rowan University
3. University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
4. University of Richmond

Meet the Work Group

In 2019, NIRSA’s Health & Wellbeing Task Force launched its first wellbeing survey. After analyzing the results, the task force began to form several work groups to help meet the needs identified by members.

One area of need surfaced by members who participated in the survey was around developing a better understanding of integrative wellbeing initiatives and resources to help departments infuse these practices across campus. To this end, NIRSA’s Cross-Campus Integration Work Group was created. This group piloted a new, multi-layered resource for NIRSA members called Promising Practices. The group of volunteers has continued to focus its efforts on this initiative, becoming the Promising Practices Work Group.

The Promising Practices Work Group works closely with the Health & Wellbeing Task Force and includes:

• Gregory Reinhardt, University of Washington – Seattle Campus
• Becky Lewis, Oakland University
• Cynthia Costanzo, University of Connecticut
• Jessica Ward, Princeton University
• Geoffrey Nelson, Seminole State College of Florida
• Pangku Cardona, University of Missouri-Columbia
• Katie Burns, Utah State University

Please feel free to reach out to any of the members with questions and ideas for this work!