It’s been almost three years since Julie Chobdee was hired to develop the USC Healthy Campus initiative, which focuses on ways to secure and enhance the wellbeing of USC employees. With 25 years experience in the field of employee wellness/health promotion, Julie has a passion for “making the healthy choice the easy choice” and creating cultures of health within organizations:
“There are so many benefits to the employee and the employer – improved health, productivity, engagement, cost savings, recruitment and retention of talent, satisfaction … I love seeing the impact of our work and how it can support not only the individual, but the community at large.”
Julie is the Associate Director of the Health & Well-being Program at the WorkWell Center, a hub located in the University Park Campus that focuses on ways to secure and enhance the wellbeing of USC employees. It was there that she launched the Healthy Campus initiative.
The Healthy Campus initiative targets the three levels of culture: individual opportunities, interpersonal relations, and the physical environment. The subcommittees that make up the program tackle various dimensions of health, including mental and financial wellbeing, to empower USC staff and faculty ever since.
While the programs rolled out by the WorkWell Center are designed for and by USC staff and faculty, it would be wrong to assume that they don’t benefit other members of the USC family directly. Several materials and events are publicly accessible through the WorkWell Center’s website, and students are welcome to join on many occasions.
This potential to influence the university as a whole is one of the great aspects of Julie’s work:
“I really enjoy working with partners across USC and looking at how and where we can infuse and embed well-being into our environment! It’s a growing field and one that is much needed. And a lot of the work we do really looks at the entire campus systems … Many projects, resources and policy recommendations, such as EatWell, impact students as well.”
Eating Well at USC: the Trojan’s guide
The EatWell subcommittee, which is led by Dining Dietitian Lindsey Pine (USC Hospitality) and EdD, MPH, RD, FAND Cary Kreutzer (USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology & Keck School of Medicine), revolves around the creation of a healthy food environment at USC. Echoing Julie, Lindsey points out the advantages of using EatWell resources as a student:
“There’s so much awful nutrition information out there in the world and on social media. On this page, everything is reputable, science-based. There’s so much information that could be very beneficial for students, including also if they do have their own apartment kitchens. There’s a YouTube cooking channel where actually all of these recipes are made by nutrition students. They’re quick, easy, healthy. I think that’s a really great resource, too.”
Two new programs that support students, staff and faculty to Eat Well
1. The EatWell Bites webinar series
EatWell Bites is a 30-minute monthly online event hosted this Fall term. Each week has a new expert that comes in to discuss one aspect of nutrition and answer audience questions.
According to Lindsey, the format reflects the ambition to tailor EatWell offerings around the needs of faculty and staff, including those who maintained a hybrid work schedule:
“We also wanted to keep this at lunchtime and in a period of time that wasn’t going to take up the entire lunch. So these are really only half an hour, and very interactive. We’re also trying to combine a meal demo component because we found from the Healthy Campus survey that our employees wanted cooking demonstrations. They want this knowledge. So that’s why, for example, the session this week is not just with me, but it’s also going to be with Chef Nathan, who’s going to physically have a demo as well.”
Every session concludes with a raffle where attendees can win a $25 Trader Joe’s gift card. Additionally, the webinars are recorded and accessible on YouTube and the Eatwell website.
2. “EatWell” branding
Launched in the week leading up to Halloweekend, the “Eatwell”-branded meals are featured at a few locations across University Park Campus as healthier food options. The EatWell branding featured on and offline menus highlighting balanced food and beverage options that fall into a set of guidelines developed by Lindsey and her colleagues.
While guided by publicly available national standards, Lindsey notes that she did extensive additional research to come up with guidelines that focused “on balance and the positive aspects of food.” Cafe Annenberg, Panda Express and TacoTaco are only a few of the participating locations.
3. Other resources
The new USC student cookbook approved by registered dieticians at USC was published last month. It contains healthy, student-friendly and ethnically diverse food ideas for different elements of a full-course meal, as well as nutrition assistance resources. Check it out!