On Oct. 29, 2025, Elon University leaders reaffirmed an institutional commitment to holistic wellness by adopting principles designed to help students, faculty and staff thrive.
Elon University has adopted the Okanagan Charter as a member of the U.S. Health Promoting Campuses Network (USHPCN), pledging to nurture a campus culture that prioritizes health, belonging and well-being for students, faculty and staff.
The university marked the milestone with an institutional adoption ceremony on Oct. 29, 2025, during which President Connie Ledoux Book, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Rebecca Kohn, Vice President for Student Life Jon Dooley and Executive President of the Student Government Association Anya Bratić offered remarks.
The Okanagan Charter: An International Charter for Health Promoting Universities and Colleges, which guides the USHPCN, encourages higher education institutions to integrate health into all aspects of campus life and to lead collaborative efforts to promote well-being both locally and globally.
Developed in 2015, the charter provides a common framework and guiding principles for colleges and universities committed to becoming health-promoting campuses. Elon joins a cohort of 11 institutions adopting the charter so far in 2025, and the fifth this fall.
Jana Lynn Patterson, associate vice president for student life and dean of student health and well-being, shared how Elon’s adoption of the charter represents a step forward in its commitment to health and well-being.
“Adopting the Okanagan Charter signals Elon’s enduring dedication to cultivating a culture of well-being that extends far beyond our classrooms and campuses, preparing students, faculty and staff to lead lives of meaning, resilience, and purpose in a world that needs compassionate and healthy citizens,” Patterson said. “The Okanagan Charter challenges universities to embed health into every aspect of campus culture, operations and academics. That vision aligns deeply with Elon’s values of holistic learning, belonging, and human flourishing.”
Elon is the first university in North Carolina to adopt the charter. Well-being has long been woven into Elon’s values and priorities. Building on that foundation, HealthEU, launched in 2022, strengthens the university’s ongoing commitment to community health by empowering students, faculty and staff to embrace holistic wellness in every aspect of campus life.
“This is more than a ceremonial signing,” Book said during the adoption ceremony. “It’s a public commitment that health and well-being are central to our educational mission.”
Aligning with the Thrive theme of the Boldly Elon Strategic Plan, the HealthEU Council will lead the implementation of the action areas outlined in the Okanagan Charter, shaped by HealthEU priorities and future strategic plans.
Key action areas include:
- Embedding health into campus policies
- Creating supportive campus environments
- Supporting personal development
- Creating and reorienting campus services to promote well-being
- Integrating health, well-being, and sustainability across disciplines
- Advancing research, teaching and training that expand health promotion knowledge
- Leading and partnering in local and global action for health promotion
“The Charter’s two Calls to Action encourage us to embed health into every aspect of campus life and to lead health promotion efforts both locally and globally,” said Anu Räisänen, director of HealthEU Initiatives. “It’s essential that everyone—students, faculty, staff and community partners—see themselves as active contributors to this work. Advancing Elon as a Health Promoting University isn’t solely the responsibility of the HealthEU Council; it’s a shared effort, and everyone has a role to play in building a thriving, supportive environment for all.”
At its core, the charter calls for shared responsibility in creating a culture of support and connection on campus.
“I’m proud to represent an institution that doesn’t just talk about well-being, but actively works to infuse it into our daily lives,” Bratić said. “Whether it’s through the HealthEU initiative or simple moments of connection with faculty, staff and friends at College Coffee, Elon encourages us to take care of ourselves and one another. These experiences remind us that when we are well, we learn better, lead better and live better.”
About Elon University
Elon University is a nationally recognized leader in engaged, experiential learning that prepares graduates to be creative, resilient, ambitious and ethical citizens of our global culture. At Elon, more than 7,000 students learn through hands-on experiences and close working relationships with faculty and staff. More than 70 undergraduate majors are complemented by professional and graduate programs in law, business administration, business analytics, accounting, education, higher education, physician assistant studies and physical therapy.
About the Okanagan Charter
The Okanagan Charter is a guiding and aspirational document that was developed as an outcome of the 2015 International Conference on Health Promoting Universities and Colleges. Health promotion scholars and professionals from around the world gathered to create this document. Its purpose is to guide colleges and universities, using their unique positions and roles in research, teaching and service to their communities, to be leaders for the world in developing and modeling health-promoting strategies in their campus settings. Local communities could then learn from their example and modeling, thus influencing global health and well-being strategy. The key is moving beyond traditional approaches of influencing individual behavior, and moving upstream to systems level and environmental strategies that influence the health and well-being of person, place and planet.
About the U.S. Health Promoting Campuses Network
Initiated on January 15, 2020, the purpose of the U.S. Health Promoting Campuses Network (USHPCN) is to facilitate, advance, and promote the adoption of the Okanagan Charter for U.S. Colleges and Universities. The adoption of the Okanagan Charter as an aspirational document represents the beginning of a journey toward campus wellbeing utilizing a comprehensive settings and systems-level approach. The USHPCN is a support network that helps campuses define, develop, and create strategies and metrics that help define what it means to be a Health Promoting Campus, recognizing that it will be different for each campus based on their unique circumstances, resources, and needs. There are currently 44 members of the network. Each member campus appoints liaisons who meet regularly to learn from, collaborate with, and support each other in this work by sharing resources, best practices, and lessons learned. The USHPCN also collaborates with international networks and is one of fifteen member networks within a more extensive international network, the International Health Promoting Universities & Colleges Network.