Partnership for a Healthier America

The University of Utah is committed to implementing Partnership for a Healthier America's rigorous Healthier Campus Initiative guidelines designed to enhance campus environments by supporting and promoting better eating and encouraging physical activity. These guidelines range from healthy wellness meals to access to potable water, as well as more diverse opportunities for physical activity.

Through its commitment to PHA, the University of Utah will build upon existing efforts, creating a healthier environment for its entire community. Of the 23 commitment elements implemented, a few include:

• Ensuring free water is available at all dining, recreational, and educational facilities.
• Offering 5 different fruits, 5 different vegetables, and at least 2 whole grains at lunch and dinner in all dining facilities.
• Encouraging active transportation through continued implementation of bicycle and pedestrian accommodation policies.
• Providing group fitness classes and outdoor recreation trips, in addition to intramural activities each year.

As part of the multi-year commitment, Healthier Campus Initiative (HCI) partners work collaboratively with PHA to enhance their campus environments while encouraging and supporting greater physical activity and healthier eating habits. Each college or university partner commits to meeting 23 of 41 guidelines within three years. The guidelines were developed by PHA 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 will be verified by an independent third party and publicly reported in PHA’s annual progress reports.

A new campus wellness committee will guide the University of Utah’s work over the next three years. Members are charged with identifying and organizing campus activities that promote living well for students, staff, faculty, and visitors. Supporting a One U approach, the broad-based committee will develop recommendations and direction of campus wellness initiatives and promote healthy living on campus and in the community.

The leaders on campus are Robin Marcus, Chief Wellness Officer, U of U Health, and Jerry Basford, associate vice president, Student Affairs. They will steer the committee to support innovative projects led by students, staff, and faculty across campus, ranging from sustainable gardens to food-focused courses and cooking workshops, to outdoor recreation trips and active transportation.

Members of the Campus Wellness Committee will include representatives from:

• Wellness and Integrative Health
• Student Affairs
• Dining Services and Chartwells
• Campus Recreation
• Housing and Residential Education
• Sustainability
• Campus Counseling Center
• Center for Student Wellness
• Admissions
• College of Health
• Human Resource departments
• Students
• University of Utah Health
• Others as needed throughout the course of guideline implementation

To learn more about PHA’s participating colleges and universities, visit www.ahealthieramerica.org/campuses.

The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) 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. For more information about PHA, please visit www.ahealthieramerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.