What's Happening in Winston-Salem, NC…

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) is partnering with Wake Forest University of Winston-Salem to enable the institute to take another look at the way colleges handle well-being.

BCBSNC has given $3m to the university to enable it to examine well-being on campus. The money will also support initiatives in eight areas of wellness: physical, spiritual, intellectual, occupational, emotional, social, financial, and environmental. The gift ties with the university's ongoing research into well-being and health, and will also enable the institution to develop new projects.

Nathan O. Hatch, president of Wake Forest, noted that the college's approach to the subject of well-being comes as a natural extension of its mission, which is to educate the individual as a whole. Hatch says that well-being is not merely the lack of stress and illness, but the presence of purpose, healthy habits, and solid relationships. The money will enable the school to enhance well-being on the Winston-Salem campus as well as across North Carolina.

The university plans to use the money to transform Reynolds Gym into a well-being center, create a new position for a director of well-being, and provide grants to faculty members conducting research in the field.

University officials could work with a catalog printing company to add the creation of the new position and the changes to the university's thinking to the next catalog they produce.