NIRSA article on wellbeing’s importance is NASPA magazine cover story

The Fall 2017 issue of NASPA’s Leadership Exchange, a print and digital magazine published four times a year for vice presidents for student affairs in higher education, may be of special interest to NIRSA members. Its feature article—and cover story—is on the importance of wellbeing for campus communities and highlights recreation’s role in leading that charge.

“[T]he [Gallup-Purdue] Index noted, ‘The odds of thriving in all areas of wellbeing more than double for college graduates when they feel their college prepared them well for life outside of it.’”
—from “A New Model for Campus Health: Integrating Well-Being into Campus Life”

The article, “A New Model for Campus Health: Integrating Well-Being into Campus Life,” was authored by NIRSA Executive Director Pam Watts and features quotes and examples from NIRSA members at Georgia Tech, NC State, Virginia Tech, California State University – Northridge, South Dakota State University, University of Florida, and the University of Richmond.

The article quotes several key studies and data points as it builds the case for integrated wellbeing on campus. It cites studies and research from the Gallup-Purdue Index, the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment, The Chronicle of Higher Education, the Center of Collegiate Mental Health, the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors Annual Survey, the HERO Health and Wellbeing Best Practices Scorecard, and the Educational Policy Institute, among others.

“Beyond campus, wellbeing helps equip students to be stronger members of the workforce and be healthy, happy, flourishing, and fulfilled individuals. Our students are the next generation of leaders, educators, and parents, teaching them how to lead better lives will shape the wellbeing of the generations to come.”
—from “A New Model for Campus Health: Integrating Well-Being into Campus Life”

This article served as one of three pre-reading materials for the recent thought leadership forum on wellbeing co-hosted by NIRSA and NASPA, and helped set the tone for much of the discussion.

It is also emblematic of the kinds of products created through partnership in this evolving, important space of wellbeing. NIRSA and NASPA, along with other partners in the student affairs, collegiate health, and the higher education space more broadly, are taking a cue from our members: no one owns wellbeing, but we all have a shared responsibility to further its integration into all the ways we live, learn, work, and play within our communities.