As a biologist and cancer researcher, Chuck Kupchella has been an activist for wellness for years, as has Adele Kupchella.
With their encouragement and leadership, the University of North Dakota has made remarkable strides. These achievements, recognized with several awards, include the construction of a $20 million, student-funded Wellness Center; inauguration of Healthy UND, a student and employee wellness program; and designation of UND as a tobacco-free campus.
UND is just the second university and one of 17 organizations nationwide to receive CEO Cancer Gold Standard accreditation from the CEO Roundtable on Cancer. It recognizes UND’s efforts to improve employee health and reduce cancer risk. At the state level, President Kupchella helped Gov. John Hoeven start the Healthy North Dakota initiative in 2002. UND has also received two awards from the American Heart Association: a Fit Friendly Company platinum award and one of just 18 national Workplace Fitness Innovation awards.
The new Student Wellness Center, made possible when students voted to increase their fees, has an indoor running and walking track, a climbing wall, fitness and weight machines, several courts and exercise studios, multipurpose room, and more. The goal of the Wellness Center is to help students adopt healthy behaviors that will serve them for life. A quiet lounge, resource room, and demonstration kitchen round out the facility. UND’s Student Wellness Center was named the 2007 Outstanding Facility of the Year by the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association.
The concept of wellness is a significant component of UND’s missions in education and research. The School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Center for Rural Health,
in 1999 to $3.2 million. The number of |
scholarships for American Indian students also increased. A new initiative, the Community of Learners Scholarship, grants $1,000 each year College of Nursing, Department of Psychology, and other areas are conducting cutting-edge research on neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and more, as well as on diabetes and other conditions.
The Center for Biomedical Device Development and Commercialization, one of the projects funded by the North Dakota Centers of Excellence Commission, is a partnership between the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, North Dakota State University, the City of Minot, and Enova Medical Technologies in White Bear Lake, Minn. The three-year project will work to develop and commercialize a device that will dissolve and suction out clots from blood vessels in the brain and limbs. The engineering schools at UND and NDSU will design and miniaturize the device, the medical school will oversee testing through animal and clinical trials, and the device would be manufactured in Minot. It has the potential to employ 200 or more people in Minot by 2012.
From medicine and nursing to fields as diverse as engineering, chemistry, and psychology, UND has become a national leader in addressing the special health needs of rural populations.
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