Sweeney promotes campus well-being in new role

Sweeney promotes campus well-being in new role

Madeleine Plourde, Staff writer

Sue Sweeney was recently an- announced as Campus Health and Well-Being Director here at Mercyhurst. She currently holds the position of Assistant Athletic
Director. She will continue her work in athletics until she of- ficially takes on her new role in health and well-being on June 1. In preparation for her work,
Sweeney has been hearing from as many groups as possible around campus. “My main thing right now is creating a foundation for our work and listening,” Sweeney said.” Sweeney has talked about campus health and well-being with Mercyhurst Student Government, Staff Senate and Dean’s Council among others. Understanding the needs of people is important, Sweeney said. She wants to hear their needs and help them to see where the campus is moving. “We’re a community,” she said. She wants to improve student well-being but also the well-being of staff and faculty on campus too. If any part of the community isn’t having their needs met then the community as a whole won’t be totally healthy, Sweeney said. Sweeney has a strong holistic mindset when thinking about health and well-being. She thinks schooling and education should develop the whole person physically, mentally and emotionally. Health and we l-being aren’t addendums to a good life Swee- ney said. “It can’t just be programs about health,” Sweeney said. “It has to be embedded in what we do.” She wants to infuse wellness into courses and the curriculum at Mercyhurst. “We need to figure out what engages [students] and who they are,” Sweeney said, “which has
been lost in just checking the box.” But she said you can’t put health and well-being into a box. It has to do with everything from your outlook on life to how you deal with relationships. Eventually, Sweeney hopes to be able to put together programs and activities students really want to be a part of. Among other
things, she hopes to help students leverage social media for their benefit. Instead of letting social media lead to a downward spiral, Sweeney hopes to help students use it as a tool for good. Mercyhurst is working with the U.S. Health Promoting Campuses Network to promote these goals. This network helps connect schools and find out what works and what doesn’t work. It also promotes the Okanagan Charter which is framework to support the holistic ideas Sweeney hopes to implement. Sweeney also really wants to bring back the idea of Hurst Is Home to the students, staff and faculty here. COVID took away
a lot of that feeling Sweeney said but there are ways to bring it back. “I want students to have that feeling of belonging,” Sweeney said, “to feel safe and at home
here.” She then hopes students can bring those feelings and ideas into the world wherever they go next. Higher education shouldn’t just be about the four years
students spend at a university, Sweeney said. It should be about something more than that. “Everything we do here should be preparing [students] for life
after Mercyhurst.” Changing the ideas around health and well-being to cultivate conscious, holistic people is one way Sweeney hopes to do that.