WPI Adopts Okanagan Charter, Signaling Ongoing Commitment to Holistic Wellbeing of People, Places, and the Planet

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Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) today adopted the Okanagan Charter, formally joining an international cohort of health-promoting universities and colleges (HPCNs) that pledge to center on the sustainable wellbeing of people, places, and the planet. Adopting the Charter represents WPI’s continuing focus on campus wellbeing and its ongoing work both internally and externally to promote holistic wellness.

people sign a poster to adopt the Okanagan Charter

“WPI is proud to adopt the Okanagan Charter and recognizes that an individual’s wellbeing is critically connected with their communities and environments,” saidWPI President Grace Wang. “Adopting the Charter reflects our long-held commitment to prioritizing health, wellbeing and belonging, and supporting mental, physical, emotional and environmental health of our campus community holistically. The Charter also aligns with WPI’s Campus Framework plan that emphasizes accessibility, placemaking and environment sustainability.”

“WPI has long taken a holistic approach, providing an education and environment that not only gives students, faculty, and staff the space to grow and find their passion, but also to develop the skills needed to help others and solve some of the world’s greatest challenges,” said Charlie Morse, Dean of Student Wellness. “Today WPI formally recognizes the essential interdependence between people, places, and the planet in elevating community health and well-being on the campus and in its environs, both now and into the future.”

WPI formally recognizes the essential interdependence between people, places, and the planet in elevating community health and well-being on the campus and in its environs, both now and into the future.

Charlie Morse, Dean of Student Wellness.

In adopting the Charter, WPI joins the US Health Promoting Campus Network (USHPCN), which includes more than 182 participating campuses across the United States. Rather than providing directives or templates, the Okanagan Charter offers an aspirational framework to encourage comprehensive and campus-wide systems and settings approaches to create cultures of compassion, well-being, and equity. Each campus then develops its own strategic plan for how it lives out and implements health promotion.

According to the Okanagan Charter, “Health promoting universities and colleges transform the health and sustainability of our current and future societies, strengthen communities and contribute to the well-being of people, places and the planet.”

WPI has in place a breadth and depth of resources to support the academic, personal, emotional, and professional health of students, faculty, and staff, and fosters a welcoming and safe physical environment where the community can live, learn, work, and contribute to the world. WPI community members are eager to learn, share, and grow with other campuses worldwide, committed to advancing the knowledge and practice of enhancing well-being within campus communities. Visit the university’s Okanagan Charter webpage.