Anchor universities as leaders in the well-being movement: lessons learned from the University of California Healthy Campus Network & pandemic

Abstract

The University of California (UC) Healthy Campus Network (HCN) is a robust network of diverse coalitions across 10 UC campuses, 5 UC teaching hospitals, and UC Agriculture & Natural Resources working to promote individual campus and systemwide changes toward a culture of health and equity. The success of this work has been evident in the HCN’s ability to quickly pivot to meet emergent needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, including social support through the UC Diabetes Prevention Program, tap water access for essential workers through the UC Healthy Beverage Initiative, and food security efforts through the UC Global Food Initiative. Building a culture of health and equity across a large public university system generated valuable lessons learned which enhanced the UC’s preparedness and resilience in the face of the pandemic, and other institutions may benefit from these best practices to respond effectively to emergencies and thrive in states of relative normalcy.

Keywords:

• College
• health
• pandemic
• resilience
• university
• well-being

Acknowledgements

Key contributors to this work include:

• HCN Committee, University of California, Berkeley

• HCN Committee, University of California, Davis

• HCN Committee, University of California, Irvine

• HCN Committee, University of California, Los Angeles

• HCN Committee, University of California, Merced

• HCN Committee, University of California, Riverside

• HCN Committee, University of California, San Diego

• HCN Committee, University of California, San Francisco

• HCN Committee, University of California, Santa Barbara

• HCN Committee, University of California, Santa Cruz

• HCN Committee, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

• HCN Advisory Team

• UC Diabetes Prevention Program Operating Center Leadership & Campus Leads

• UC Research Consortium on Beverages and Health Leadership & Healthy Beverage Initiative Campus Leads

• UC-Wide Basic Needs Leadership & Campus Leads

• Meagan Wang, the former Research and Communications Coordinator for the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center at UCLA

Ethical approval

Ethics approval was not required as this is a paper reporting on process to build a culture of health in a large university system, not a report on human subjects research.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the USA and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of California Los Angeles.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation under Grant 75829 and grants from the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) and the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center at UCLA.