With more than 6,700 employees, Iowa State holds itself accountable in supporting the success and happiness of its faculty and staff. After exploring ways to address this challenge with a Wellness Task Force in 2010, the university launched ISU WellBeing in 2014 to provide ongoing support for personal well-being. In addition to examining the ways in which Iowa State supports, develops and provides autonomy to its employees, ISU WellBeing also works with individuals to help them find their purpose and values in life. 

As one of Iowa State's newest campus-wide initiatives, ISU WellBeing supports faculty and staff in six different areas: community, emotional, financial, mental, physical and spiritual well-being. Each of these elements uniquely aligns with the economic, environmental and social components of sustainability. For example, physical well-being supports economic sustainability by helping people to make personal choices that decrease health care costs; environmental sustainability by encouraging people to enjoy the great outdoors through recreation and volunteer opportunities; and social sustainability through initiatives such as community walking programs. 

ISU WellBeing works closely with Student Wellness and many other campus and community partners, including the City of Ames, Iowa's "Healthy Hometown" Initiative, Mary Greeley Medical Center and the McFarland Clinic. With the help of Environmental Heath and Safety, Facilities Planning and Management, Live Green!, Student Wellness and other campus stakeholders, ISU WellBeing is formed a University Wellbeing Leadership Alliance (UWLA) in 2018 to better serve faculty and staff. Additionally, after collecting employee data to identify the most-requested resources needed on campus, ISU WellBeing launched the online Wellbeing platform, Adventure2, to offer 24/7 support and guidance. 

See the dropdowns below to see how ISU WellBeing is making an impact within each of the three facets of sustainability. Contact ISU WellBeing Coordinator Stephanie Downs via email at sdowns@iastate.edu.

Wellness is about creating a culture where people thrive, where they can bring that best self to work every day and act from that best self, and they aren't bogged down by politics and negativity and lack of autonomy.

Stephanie Downs, ISU WellBeing Coordinator

  • Having identified financial well-being as one of the biggest stressors by ISU employees, ISU WellBeing and the Benefits team are focused on providing programs, services and resources to support financial well-being.
  • The university provides webinars, online services and budgeting tools and resources for work and personal management to inspire financial resiliency.
  • Iowa State's insurance benefits package offers Blue365 discounts to help employees save money on medical-related expenses.
  • Considering health and well-being as an economic resource is a focal initiative of ISU WellBeing. Better health is a form of self sustainability that can decrease healthcare costs, as well as increase life expectancy.

"With anxieties and depressions, there is a cost to society when people aren't at their best, when we aren't getting along, when we don't value and respect one another, when we aren't embracing of our uniqueness." -Stephanie Downs, ISU WellBeing Coordinator

  • ISU WellBeing collaborates with Iowa State Recreation Services and Facilities Planning and Management to promote classes, walking and the use of bike paths.
  • ISU WellBeing aims to encourage the use of outdoor areas for both relaxation and activity.
  • Working with campus departments to help support healthy movement, nuritious food and regular breaks in the work environment, including encouraging departments to create spaces and conditions that support resiliency and autonomy, is an important main focus of ISU WellBeing.
  • ISU WellBeing, along with Environmental Health and Safety, promote ergonomics, the science of human performance factors that influence the workplace.
  • ISU WellBeing encourages employees to engage in volunteering and outdoor interaction through community and physical well-being.

  • One of the six elements of ISU WellBeing is spiritual well-being. This element focuses on discovering purpose in life and pinpointing values and goals.
  • ISU WellBeing collaborates with the Student Wellness program to ensure well-being to the collective campus community.
  • ISU WellBeing creates well-being in both the community and university by collaborating with Mary Greeley, McFarland Clinic, the City of Ames, as well as Healthiest Ames and its "Healthy Hometown" initiative.
  • With the help of Environmental Health & Safety, Facilities Planning and Management, Live Green! and Student Wellness, ISU WellBeing has established a “WellBeing Leadership Alliance."
  • ISU WellBeing supports other initiatives for physical well-being, including encouraging better sleep habits, offering stress tests to assist employees in pinpointing and more effectively managing their biggest stressors, as well as promoting the use of walking meetings.
  • ISU WellBeing promotes emotional well-being by offering a comprehensive menu of mindfulness activities, programs and skill-building workshops.
  • ISU WellBeing offers resources to support employees' mental well-being, such as individual counseling through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which is dedicated to helping employees overcome challenges to maximize their full potential.
  • ISU WellBeing is focusing on building community and facilitating interactions between colleagues and co-workers to make employees feel more connected, socially, physically and mentally. Unique approaches to this include supporting the annual Local Food Festival and connecting local foods and producers to students, faculty and staff, as well as connecting Ames and ISU walking routes to offer a community-connected walking program.
  • Through data collected from  university-wide conversations, focus groups and survey data, ISU WellBeing created an Online WellBeing Portal for employees to find and connect to well-being resources, challenges and opportunities.

"When we start to honor and value the emotional aspect of who we are, we can start to see the world differently, feel more connected to the world, and care for the world and one another differently." -Stephanie Downs, ISU WellBeing Coordinator