{"id":16789,"date":"2017-03-30T15:57:03","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T19:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=16789"},"modified":"2017-04-18T16:47:43","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T20:47:43","slug":"utc-one-first-universities-healthy-tennessee-communities-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2017\/03\/utc-one-first-universities-healthy-tennessee-communities-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"UTC one of first universities in Healthier Tennessee Communities effort"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"UTC<\/p>\n

Healthy university, healthy students, healthy community.<\/p>\n

Win-Win-Win.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the philosophy behind UTC being one of the first colleges in the state accepted into the Healthier Tennessee Communities effort.<\/p>\n

The goal of the program, launched in 2015 by Gov. Bill Haslam, is to improve the overall health of Tennesseans by encouraging participants to be physically active for at least 30 minutes each week, eat a healthy diet and stop tobacco use.<\/p>\n

The program officially starts at UTC in August, says Carol Oglesby, assistant director of the school\u2019s Health Education and Wellness Promotion and chairman of Healthy Living Initiative On-Campus.<\/p>\n

UT-Martin is the only other state school in the program at this point.<\/p>\n

For UTC, being part of Healthier Tennessee is \u201cjust the opportunity to really practice what we preach. We can set the standards and be on the forefront,\u201d says Liz Hathaway, assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance.<\/p>\n

She and Oglesby approached state officials last fall to toss out the idea of applying the goals of Healthier Tennessee to the UTC campus.<\/p>\n

From there, state officials got in touch with nine other colleges and universities to offer a chance to join the drive for Healthier Tennessee designation, says Russell Cliche, regional director for the foundation.<\/p>\n

But from the start \u201cit was apparent that UTC was the farthest along,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt already had a lot of buy-in from senior administration at the college. \u2026 Sometimes that\u2019s tough, getting that buy-in,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Hathaway says part of that buy-in is \u201cdefinitely the fact that we have a great partnership\u201d between Health and Human Performance, the School of Nursing, the division of Student Development and the office of Campus Recreation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a focus on trying to create events that reach faculty, students and staff instead of separating out each entity,\u201d she says. An example is the Healthy Living Initiative that began on campus last fall.<\/p>\n

At this point, UTC and UT-Martin are only in the running for the designation as an official Healthier Tennessee Community. During the year-long process to earn the title, the university must:<\/p>\n