Launch of Health and Wellness Initiative

Dear Students, Employees and Community of Andrews University:

September 23, 2015 marked the exciting launch of the new and official Andrews University Health & Wellness initiative built on the principle and Andrews core strength of Live Wholly. I am thrilled about the incredible opportunity we have to utilize the foundational principles of health and wellness to improve, transform and save lives!

The strong support of Andrews University’s leadership to make health and wellness a priority for this community led to the development of my job as the dedicated Director for University Health & Wellness, which only a few higher education institutions have done thus far. I report directly to President Niels-Erik Andreasen. 

My role is to provide expert executive health and wellness advice and to strategically coordinate all things health and wellness for students, faculty, staff and the community with the support and guidance of the newly established Health & Wellness Council at Andrews University. A new Wellness Action Team will be established to carry out all the practical components of health, wellness and fitness.

Wellness is an active process of optimizing every aspect of our multidimensional self to harmoniously reflect the image of our Creator by nurturing and equally emphasizing physical, mental and spiritual development. This means that wellness is a complete lifestyle, challenging us to make positive choices in all areas of our lives each day, both personally and professionally.

Andrews University Health & Wellness will integrate five deeply connected pillars: physical, spiritual, mental, relational and professional wellness, which together promote living life to our fullest potential as our Creator God intended for us. This process is about joy, happiness and balance, all of which contribute to leading successful and satisfactory lives.

In order to create a vibrant and true culture of health and wellness at Andrews University, I am asking each one of you to join and support this movement. We are launching our University Health & Wellness Campaign with some initial exciting actions:

• Andrews University Plank Challenge: Plank each day at 3 p.m. for 30 seconds. START: Next Monday, Oct. 5. (For more information about planking visit our website.)
• Wednesday 5K Walk: Every Wednesday at 5 p.m. Meet at the Andrews sculpture in front of PMC. START: Oct. 14.
• Wellness website with wellness calendar: andrews.edu/wellness. To be completed October 2015.
• Wellness Lounge: A space to enjoy a variety of special wellness offerings. Coming November 2015.

Many more actions will follow, so stay connected through our new website (andrews.edu/wellness) or wellness@andrews.edu.

Together, we can transform this community and become the healthiest university, inspiring the world to live life to the fullest through the foundational principles of health and wellness!

by Dominique Wakefield, Director for University Health & Wellness

Gift of Prophecy Symposium

Next week on October 15-18, Gift of Prophecy in Scripture and History Symposium will be held on the campus of Andrews University this year in recognition of the centennial of Ellen White’s death and will launch a quinquennial world-wide emphasis in the Seventh-day Adventist Church for understanding the gift of prophecy.

As a part of the symposium, a new suite, "We, From Battle Creek" will be premiered by the AU Wind Symphony and Alan Mitchell on Friday, Oct. 16, 8:30-9:00 p.m., Howard Performing Arts Center. The suite was composed by PMC's very Kenneth Logan and the music reflects on Adventist heritage from Battle Creek, Michigan.

Reserved seating and a special Symposium book containing chapters by the presenters is offered to all registrants. A special registration rate of $10 is being offered to the first 100 current AU students. Co-curricular credit is also available. Non-registered individuals are invited to attend both the Friday evening and Sabbath afternoon sessions. For more information or to register, visit www.giftofprophecy2015.org. 

by Heidi Magesa, Center for Adventist Research

"Grammer Slammers"-How You Spell Reflects On Whom You Follow?

After a week of headline heartaches from the mass shooting in Roseburg to the biblical proportion flooding in South Carolina, here’s a headline hardly as ponderous. According to USA TODAY the grammar-checking app Grammarly has run some numbers on the presidential candidates from both parties and their supporters who comment on the candidate’s Facebook page. In short Grammarly set out to find out which candidate’s supporters were the most grammatically correct. I.e., how many spelling and/or grammatical errors appear in the online postings of the various candidates’ supporters.

How did Grammarly come up with its numbers? “A sample of comments from each candidate’s Facebook page was taken, and the negative ones filtered out. Grammarly then took a random sample of at least 180 messages from remaining comments and examined them for errors—focusing on things such as misspellings and punctuation” (USA TODAY 10-7-15). . . read more

by Dwight Nelson, Lead Pastor