Wellness Program Mission Statement

Our Campus Recreation Wellness Program is committed to enhancing and maintaining the quality of life of its participants through fitness.  Our programs are student-centered to provide hands on experiences that are both fun, challenging, and focused on long term health.  We strive to provide opportunities for professional growth, creative expression, and community involvement with our students to complement their liberal arts education.

Background of Wellness Program

In 1982, UNCA and the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) jointly received a half-million dollar grant to establish a health promotion program with an accredited course at UNCA and to train MAHEC resident physicians in health promotion practices. UNCA was among the first colleges and universities in the country to have an accredited health promotion course.

From this beginning, the Health Promotion Program became a department (Health and Fitness), part of the university’s general education requirement, and has three minors: Health Promotion, Sports Medicine and Dance.

From its earliest days, the Health Promotion Program (and, then, Dept. of Health and Fitness) has held an annual cholesterol screening for faculty, staff and students. It has become tradition for this to be held on two consecutive mornings in late October close to Halloween, which allows for the obvious connection of “blood draw” and vampires, etc. Participants have their blood drawn, blood pressure checked, if they wish, and then are treated to refreshments since most are hungry from their 12-hour fast. The lipid profile shows total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides and glucose.

In 1999 the Department of Health and Wellness initiated the Mind/Body Fitness Challenge; open to faculty, staff and students. Participants attended three workshops: one was an introduction to the Challenge, covering such things as setting goals, motivational skills, etc.; the second was on exercise; and the third on nutrition. Participants earned points by what they accomplished in each area, which they recorded in a log. At the end of the semester awards were presented, with one grand prize. After the first year, the department chair and originator of the Challenge, Keith Ray, decided to change the format of the Challenge and, rather than competing against one another, participants set goals and simply worked toward achieving those goals.

For the past couple of years the Wellness Programming has been run by the staff of the Health and Fitness Center. There also is a Wellness Committee, composed of staff members, that has sponsored a wellness fair for employees for the past three years. A new degree program was approved in the summer of 2004 and those classes will begin in January 2005. In August 2004 a professional position was created for wellness and facility operations and Dominique Ennis was chosen to fill that role.  In addition to coordinating various wellness programs around campus, she is also in charge of the Health and Fitness Center staff, group fitness, fitness assessment, personal training and day-to-day facility operations for the Campus Recreation Department.