Amid global challenges like climate change, systemic racism, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the complexity of higher education's role in addressing human health and well-being is evident. Health Promoting Universities explores how post-secondary education can address interconnected well-being challenges through collaborative leadership at organisational, provincial/state, national, and international levels.
Written by health promoting university leaders from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, this collection reflects on research findings and emergent insights in taking a systems and settings approach to promote health and well-being. The authors advocate for prioritising authentic, collaborative, and altruistic leadership to secure the systemic change necessary to sustain and promote the health of the planet and its citizens. The book examines systems-wide health promotion within post-secondary campuses, emphasising higher education's role as an incubator to design and implement community-led processes and leadership strategies to enhance well-being. By engaging in knowledge mobilisation practices that include the community and beyond, the book invites leaders, practitioners, and researchers to use these approaches to lead well-being efforts beyond the physical boundaries of their campuses.
Drawing on the collective knowledge of the authors in leading health promotion on campuses and beyond, Health Promoting Universities ultimately seeks to answer the question, 'How can higher education improve people's well-being, create healthy campus communities, and ensure a healthy planet?'
Edited by:
Vicki Squires,
Chad London,
Matt Dolf
Imprint: University of Toronto Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9781487547882
ISBN 10: 1487547889
Pages: 292
Publication Date: 01 January 2026
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction: The Health Promotion Initiative Chad London 1. Laying the Foundations for the Health Promoting Universities Movement Matt Dolf and Mark Dooris 2. Collaborative Leadership and Its Role in Whole Systems Approaches Vicki Squires, Chad London, and Olena Shakhova 3. What Gets Treasured, Gets Measured? Considering the Role of a Common Health and Wellbeing Assessment Tool for Canadian Post-Secondary Settings Guy Faulkner, Caroline Wu, Kelly Wunderlich, and Michael Fang 4. Supporting Indigenous Peoples’ Wellbeing on University Campuses Heather J.A. Foulds and Leah J. Ferguson 5. Promoting Equity Diversity Inclusion (EDI) through Strategic Planning Maha Kumaran and Suresh Kalagnanam 6. The Student Health Imperative: Elevating Student Health as a Prime Directive of Student Affairs Ainsley Carry 7. Is That Our Responsibility? The Role of Academic Units in Campus Wellbeing Chad London and Tanya Forneris 8. Promoting Food Security for Post-Secondary Students Sara Kozicky, Min-Jung Kim, Vanessa Cunningham, Sam Laban, and Philip A. Loring 9. Advancing Workplace Wellbeing within Higher Education Settings Crystal Hutchinson, Natasha Malloff, and Alicia Hibbert 10. Wellbeing by Design: Creating a University Built Environment to Advance Wellbeing and Sustainable Outcomes Oliver Tacto 11. Considerations for Developing a Healthy Campus Model: Adoption, Formulation, Implementation, and Evaluation Chad London and Vicki Squires 12. The Future of Health Promotion: Moving from Local and National to Global Wellbeing Vicki Squires Index
Vicki Squires is the associate dean of research, graduate support, and international initiatives in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. Chad London is the provost and vice-president, academic, and a professor of health and physical education at Mount Royal University. Matt Dolf is the director for the Office of Wellbeing Strategy at the University of British Columbia and co-chair of the Canadian and International Health Promoting Campuses Networks.
Reviews for Health Promoting Universities: Advancing Well-Being Through a Systems Approach
“Universities need to be challenged to undertake initiatives that are holistic and important. This book brings together stories, examples, and cases from across a range of topics in an integrative way that simply doesn’t exist elsewhere. It calls on universities to be and do better – and has the potential to be a significant contribution as a road map for HOW to do that, in the context of holistic, complex, whole-of-university endeavors. It is an important piece for university leadership, students, faculty, staff, and public sector stakeholders to all read and consider.” -- Teri C. Balser, Professor of Sustainability and Former Provost, University of Calgary “Health Promoting Universities brings together many interesting and important elements that support the adoption and functioning of HPU initiatives. This book is important, specifically because it takes COVID-19 into account, which has changed the landscape and rendered other pre-existing works insufficient. I appreciate the book’s emphasis on implementation, and I think the volume brings together many useful examples and strategies for tackling important areas of addressing wellbeing on campus. This text could be used in public health and health promotion courses, and higher education and leadership programs, while also having practical value for people implementing HPU or wellbeing initiatives on campuses."" -- J. Hope Corbin, Professor of Health and Community Studies, Western Washington University
