Health Promoting Universities: Advancing Wellbeing through a Systems Approach

Amid global challenges like climate change, systemic racism, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the complexity of higher education’s role in addressing human health and well-being is evident. Health Promoting Universities explores how post-secondary education can address interconnected well-being challenges through collaborative leadership at organizational, provincial/state, national, and international levels.

Written by health promoting university leaders from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, this collection reflects on research findings and emergent insights in taking a systems and settings approach to promote health and well-being. The authors advocate for prioritizing authentic, collaborative, and altruistic leadership to secure the systemic change necessary to sustain and promote the health of the planet and its citizens. The book examines systems-wide health promotion within post-secondary campuses, emphasizing higher education’s role as an incubator to design and implement community-led processes and leadership strategies to enhance well-being. By engaging in knowledge mobilization practices that include the community and beyond, the book invites leaders, practitioners, and researchers to use these approaches to lead well-being efforts beyond the physical boundaries of their campuses.

Drawing on the collective knowledge of the authors in leading health promotion on campuses and beyond, Health Promoting Universities ultimately seeks to answer the question, How can higher education improve people’s well-being, create healthy campus communities, and ensure a healthy planet?

Vicki Squires is the associate dean of research, graduate support, and international initiatives in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan.

Chad London is the provost and vice-president, academic, and a professor of health and physical education at Mount Royal University.


Matt Dolf is the director for the Office of Wellbeing Strategy at the University of British Columbia and co-chair of the Canadian and International Health Promoting Campuses Networks.