To the UConn Community:

I am pleased to announce that UConn has formalized our commitment to well-being by becoming a Health Promoting University and by taking additional steps to embed health into every facet of our university culture. As a Health Promoting University, UConn adopted the Okanagan Charter, which challenges universities to use their unique roles in research, teaching, and service to further develop health-promoting strategies in their campus settings.

UConn’s commitment to being a Health Promoting University aligns with the recently established University strategic plan, in particular the strategic initiative supporting the Wellness of People and Planet by fostering the physical, mental, and environmental wellness of our students, faculty, staff, and the world at large. Establishing ourselves as a Health Promoting University has been endorsed by the Board of Trustees, which passed a resolution on February 28 in support of an institutional commitment to the Okanagan Charter and purposeful action at the systems and settings level to further enhance well-being on our campuses.

The Okanagan Charter highlights that health-promoting universities “transform the health and sustainability of our current and future society, strengthen communities, and contribute to the well-being of people, places, and the planet.” As a premier research university, UConn has the unique opportunity to further leverage our strengths in innovation and scholarship to enhance our promotion of both human and planetary health throughout our campuses and beyond.

By adopting the Okanagan Charter and establishing our institutional commitments, UConn’s journey forward includes forming a steering committee to lead expanded health promoting university work.  The steering committee will identify key opportunities at the university to support ways to further embed health into all aspects of UConn’s campus culture, across the administration, operations, and academic mandates.

I hope you will join me in celebrating this momentous step and encourage all members of our community to explore ways to contribute, which will be detailed in future communications.

Radenka Maric

President, University of Connecticut