[Huntsville, AL, September 21, 2015] - Today, Oakwood University announced it will join the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector and PHA honorary chair First Lady Michelle Obama to make healthier choices easier, in a three-year commitment to adopt guidelines around food and nutrition, and physical activity and programming. This initiative will impact approximately 1,800 students and more than 400 of faculty and staff on campus.

 

"At Oakwood University, we will be facilitating learning opportunities to educate the campus body about eight laws of health in order to foster a holistic approach to a healthy mind, body, and soul. Our goal is to make Oakwood University the healthiest campus in America," said Leslie N. Pollard, Ph.D., D.Min., M.B.A. President Pollard is in Washington, DC, today, at an event where Oakwood University will be announced as the first university in the State of Alabama to join the Partnership. While in Washington DC, (on September 22) President Pollard will also accept a recognition for Oakwood University being an HBCU that has paved the way in creating a healthier campus environment for students, faculty, and staff by adopting a comprehensive tobacco-free policy.

Oakwood University will issue to its students free Health Transcripts TM to help raise awareness of their personal health status and to demonstrate to students that health must be monitored.

 

Oakwood University signs on as a part of the third cohort of schools joining the PHA's Healthier Campus Initiative, which includes 37 other colleges and universities, collectively impacting more than 800,000 students and 250,000 faculty and staff.

 

Over the next three years, Oakwood University will make several changes to make healthier choices easier for students, faculty and staff across its campus with its commitment to PHA through Food & Nutrition, Physical Activity & Movement and Programming.

  

"Colleges and universities are in a unique position to help shape tomorrow's leaders, whether they are teachers, coaches, policymakers, CEOs, moms or dads," said PHA CEO Lawrence A. Soler. "We know that going to college is a time of change for many students-we also know that means it's a time when new habits are formed. By creating healthier food and physical activity environments today, campuses and universities are encouraging healthier habits that will carry over into tomorrow."

For more information on PHA's Healthier Campus Initiative, visit www.ahealthieramerica.org/campuses

The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation's youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with - but independent from - First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation's most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased, third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.