Maryville College recognized by ACSM’s Exercise is Medicine® program for creating a culture of wellness on campus
June 4, 2024
Maryville College is one of only 145 universities and colleges around the world to be honored by Exercise is Medicine® (EIM) for its efforts to create a culture of wellness on its campus.
Wellness opportunities such as weekly Come Out and Play Recess, Mountain Challenge’s Camp 4, the Be Active. Be Happy. Be Outside. Be Healthy. initiative between the College and Fit. Green. Happy.®, as well as the annual Pumpkin Run are some of the activities that helped the College earn a gold-level designation from the Exercise is Medicine® On Campus (EIM-OC) program. Exercise is Medicine is a community-impact initiative of the American College of Sports Medicine that calls upon universities and colleges to promote physical activity as a vital sign of health and encourages faculty, staff and students to work together to improve the health and well-being of the campus community.
EIM-OC launched its recognition program in 2014 to honor campuses for their efforts to create a culture of wellness. Schools earn gold, silver or bronze status based on their activities. Gold-level campuses have created a referral system where campus healthcare providers assess student physical activity and refer students as necessary to a certified fitness professional as part of medical treatment. Silver campuses engage students, faculty and staff in education initiatives and make movement part of the daily campus culture, while bronze-level campuses promote and generate awareness of the health benefits of physical activity.
“We are thrilled to recognize these campuses’ commitment to make movement a part of daily campus culture and give students the tools to cultivate physical activity habits that will benefit them throughout their lives,” said interim CEO Katie Feltman, CAE. “These campus programs are nurturing future leaders who will advance a key tenet of Exercise is Medicine: making physical activity assessment and promotion a standard in health care.”
Through a partnership with the College’s Counseling Center, the College’s EIM-OC program was able to assess physical activity as a vital sign, as well as provide referrals to active outdoor opportunities on campus. Both are “critical to earning gold status,” said Dr. Traci Haydu, chair of the College’s Division of Health Sciences and Outdoor Studies (HSOS).
Haydu credited EIM-OC interns Dom Holland ’24, Olivia Norris ’26, Omarr Hurd ’24, John Netherton ’23 and Maylee Warren ’24 for being “instrumental in leading recess activities and organizing the evidence we needed for our report.
“We also received invaluable contributions from Tyson Murphy ’05, director of Mountain Challenge, who helped us design the Pumpkin Run course; the women’s soccer team, which helped us mark the Pumpkin Run course; and the men’s and women’s cross-country teams, providing us pacers and sweepers the day of the race,” she added.
Dr. Jennifer Oody, associate professor of exercise science, states that the gold-level designation is “a huge achievement for our division, this year especially. It provides important opportunities for our students, and we know that active students are happier, healthier and performing at their best in and out of the classroom.”
Oody said that the faculty, staff and students involved in the EIM-OC program work hard all year to ensure events like the Pumpkin Run and weekly recess happen, and that they take pride in being “among the ranks of other institutions nationwide that are recognized for their efforts to create a more physically active campus.”
Of the 145 campuses recognized this year, 83 received gold, 44 received silver and 18 received bronze. All gold, silver and bronze universities and colleges were recognized on May 29 at the EIM recognition ceremony at ACSM’s Annual Meeting.