Florida State University has earned national recognition from Partnership for a Healthier America for its commitment to expanding healthier options across campus.
Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) works to ensure that all children and young adults have the opportunity to live healthy, active lives.
Florida State is one of 32 institutions of higher learning to successfully complete a three-year commitment to implement PHA’s rigorous Healthier Campus Initiative guidelines, which are designed to create a culture shift toward greater health and wellness among the entire campus community. The guidelines include providing healthier meals, convenient access to potable water and providing diverse opportunities for physical activity.
“I am thrilled about our designation as a Partnership for a Healthier America campus,” said Angela Chong, associate vice president for Student Affairs. “This is a tangible reflection of our strategic efforts to move FSU into the forefront of the college health landscape. We are honored to be one of only 32 institutions of higher education to receive this recognition, and we take this commitment to the health and wellness of our campus very seriously.”
As part of its Healthier Campus Initiative commitment, Florida State worked collaboratively with PHA to build upon existing campus wellness efforts to encourage and support greater physical activity and healthier eating habits. Every Healthier Campus Initiative partner commits to meeting 23 of 41 PHA guidelines within three years.
Florida State’s health and wellness efforts include:
- Implementing a comprehensive, strategic product placement and merchandising policy within FSU dining venues to encourage healthier food consumption.
- Making Registered Dietician Nutritionists available for personal nutrition assessments and counseling to all students.
- Offering the FSU reCycle Bike program on campus to encourage physical activity and environmental sustainability.
- Providing free fitness center orientations and fitness assessments to all FSU students.
- Building a world-class outdoor fitness court set to open June 1. The fitness court will provide a seven-movement, seven-minute full-body workout to people of all ages and ability levels. The fitness court is located in a high-student traffic location on the northwest side of campus and will be open to the entire FSU campus community.
- Creating an integrated, comprehensive, multidisciplinary Health & Wellness Executive Council to address FSU community wellness across all dimensions of wellness.
“The Partnership for a Healthier America designation represents a labor of love from across the entire university,” said April Lovett, strategic planning and assessment analyst for FSU’s Health & Wellness Portfolio. “For the past three years, multiple campus partners put their heart and soul into fulfilling objectives that ensure FSU offers inclusive and accessible wellness programs that truly impact the health of our students.”
Florida State continues to prioritize wellness on campus through its new Live Well campaign, designed under Chong’s leadership, to support students across all nine dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, spiritual, social, financial, intellectual, creative, occupational, and environmental and safety.
“We congratulate Florida State’s commitment to supporting students and the wider campus community to form healthy habits that will last a lifetime,” said PHA President and CEO Nancy E. Roman. “FSU’s demonstrated leadership is an important step forward in realizing Partnership for a Healthier America’s goal that all young people grow up free from obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other conditions associated with excess weight.”
PHA’s guidelines were developed in collaboration with some of the nation’s leading nutrition, physical activity and campus wellness experts. As with all PHA partners, each of the commitment elements have been verified by an independent third party and are publicly reported in PHA’s annual progress reports.
To learn more about PHA’s participating colleges and universities, visit ahealthieramerica.org/campuses.
The Partnership for a Healthier America
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation’s youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with — but independent from— former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation’s most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making.