Do you have an interest in employee wellness programs on campus? Consider becoming a Wellness Champion!

Employee Wellness Champions

Wellness Champions are a group of employees that serve as the liaison between University Health Services and the almost 3,000 Boise State employees. Their primary responsibilities are disseminating information via email, hanging flyers in break rooms and other group areas, and making announcements during staff meetings about the current employee wellness programs on campus.

Become a Wellness Champion

Established in 2015

Since the Wellness Champions group formed in March of 2015, participation in health and wellness programs on campus has drastically increased, meaning employees all over campus are more engaged in their personal well-being. By adding more champions to the group, more faculty and staff will be aware of wellness programs, and participation will continue to increase.

Champions will meet 1-2 times a semester, and they are provided information, resources, and wellness goodies.

What are our champions saying?

“I love being able to share my love of wellness with my coworkers. Many people feel anxious asking for help or resources. I am glad to be that resource!”

“I genuinely feel we are happier and more productive if we are well.”

Become a Wellness Champ!

Interested in joining this group? Apply to be a Wellness Champion

Wellness Champions Spotlights

Alexis Kenyon

Alexis Kenyon is the Associate Director of the Bachelor of Applied Science and Interdisciplinary Professional Studies Programs within the Extended Studies. In this role, Alexis manages the day to day of the program, teaches classes, supports escalated student issues, and collaborates with the director to ensure student success. Alexis has been a Wellness Champion since 2012 when they were called “Health Ambassadors.” Extended Studies has approximately 150 employees with one of them being a direct report of Alexis. Through her role as a Wellness Champion, Alexis is dedicated to ensuring that her team understands the need for work-life balance and that it is okay to say “No” to a project or assignment if they are at capacity.

Alexis’ favorite ways to engage in wellness while at work include encouraging people to get active, having walking meetings when working on campus, and not checking her work email during the weekend. She feels supported by her supervisors by their continued encouragement of her in this role and wellness as a whole. To highlight this, Alexis was able to create a class within their disciplines curriculum that specifically focuses on the 8 dimensions of wellness.

She loves engaging in the different wellness related activities that Wellness Services hosts and encourages her department to participate. Alexis mentioned that she “likes that Boise State University supports employee wellness.”

Hailey Landa

Hailey Landa is an Accountant in the Controller’s Office. She oversees the operations for accounts receivables. While her specific focus is in this area, Hailey supports the entire University Financial Service department as the Employee Wellness Champion.

Hailey has been a wellness champion for about 5 years. Hailey’s peers mention that she is good at providing all the details of the Employee Wellness Program. She continues to engage her department by setting up team building activities and training opportunities to enhance their department. Hailey loves the holiday season and adds a holiday newsletter to help motivate and support the department during that time. One of the team building activities she implements is a Thankful Wall where employees can add notes of gratitude and thanks.

Her wellness focus for this year is to focus on the social aspects and team building. With the changes that have happened in her office, she wants to build a tight nit team that can depend on each other when things become challenging.

Pam Kindelberger

Pam Kindelberger is the Library Section Manager focusing on the Interlibrary Loan program. This program allows students, faculty, and staff to borrow books or journal articles from other libraries either local, state-wide, nationally, or even internationally!

Pam has been a wellness champion off and on since the inception of the program in 2015. In her department of 90 employees (both student and professional staff), Pam encourages everyone to take a step away from their desk and enjoy a bit of nature during the day. With the convenience of the green belt behind the Library, it is easy for Pam to motivate her peers to take a walk with her at lunchtime. Most days, she will walk around three miles during her lunch hour. She believes that people can feel more relaxed and engaged in their afternoons if they took the time to walk outside in the middle of the day.

One wellness initiative she plans to complete this year is creating a wellness bulletin board in the staff break room where she can post all things wellness for the rest of the department to see!

Jenn Ambrose

Jenn Ambrose is the Senior Department Manager in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department. This department has approximately 100 employees and Jenn supervises a team of 10. She began her journey as an Employee Wellness champion at the inception of the program. Jenn focuses on empowering employees to take control of their wellness and completely unplug from work. “I’d like to help people get comfortable with self-care as a legitimate reason to disconnect from work,” she says. Mentioning that they need to take a break, a walk, or just have a hot beverage and chat with a coworker for a bit. Jenn also brings her beloved Basset Hounds to the office to boost morale of both employees and students. She mentioned that people in the department know the two are there and specifically ask to sit and pet her pups.

Before the pandemic, Jenn received a grant from the Office of Wellness Services to enhance wellbeing within the department. With these funds, Jenn and the ECE department have created a wellness room where faculty, staff, and students can relax and enjoy the space. “The ECE Collaboration Center is a space that will help us facilitate wellness, connection, and collaboration. In addition to a business center with a big screen for zoom, the Center includes a comfy sofa, hand weights, yoga mats and cushions, stretching bands, and more.” The pandemic put a pause in opening the room. However, Jenn said it will be up and running in the Spring semester. Alongside this wonderful wellness room, there is also a “Hungry Bank” outside of RUCH 240 where people can drop off or pick up food whenever they need a snack. She mentioned that she found great joy in providing snacks for individuals who needed it, filling her empty nester heart.

Jenn is proud of the work that has been done to enhance wellness on campus. He mentioned “Wellness has gained traction in recent years but we have a long way to go when it comes to helping people navigate wellness as a priority in the face of a demanding job.”

Linda Machado

Linda Machado is an Administrative Assistant 2 in the College of Business and Economics (COBE) Advising office. She is the first person students interact with when coming to the advising office. COBE students are required to attend one advising session each semester. With their approximately 3,000 students (some visit the office multiple times throughout the year) it is a busy office and can become overwhelming. Linda has stepped up to the plate to encourage her peers to participate in wellness and take care of themselves.

Over the last two years as a Wellness Champion, Linda has inspired her peers to participate in Employee Wellness activities. Her driving force is how the wellness activities help to build a cohesive and collaborative community within the college. As an added benefit, employees are able to connect with others in various departments across campus. Which helps her support students and her peers with connecting them to resources and supports across campus using a warm handoff approach.

The advising team in COBE established healthy boundaries for lunch by closing the office between 12 and 1 pm. This allows the team to take the much needed time to eat lunch, unwind, and possibly go for a walk. Linda uses this time to take a walk or climb the stairs. She has a standing walking lunch with a colleague every other Wednesday. Her supervisor was so supportive of her efforts to climb the stairs that they created a spreadsheet for her to track her steps. Linda’s Step Tracker helps her calculate how many steps she takes during her break. She is an inspiration to us all.

Claire Phillips

Claire Phillips is a Student Organizations Coordinator in the Student Involvement and Leadership Center. In her role, Claire supports student organizations with their day to day functions of hosting meetings, events, and recruitment activities. She is intentional with her support to cultivate a sense of belonging for the students involved in these organizations. With over 100 student organizations, Claire is a champion in engaging with the organizations and showing them that they matter here at the university.

Claire has been an Employee Wellness Champion for a little over a year. It is no surprise that her outgoing, bubbly personality and love for all things wellness is contagious to her team. With a team of 12 people, she is able to guide them in wellness activities and provides them with resources and support to practice in their own ways. Allowing them to find the balance that works for them and allows them to take care of themselves. Not necessarily physical activity, but it could be closing the door and taking a few deep breaths. Claire is a huge advocate for walking meetings. She loves getting out of the office and feeling the fresh air.

As Claire continues to empower her coworkers to practice well-being, she is also practicing these components as well. It is easy to get swept up in the to do’s of the day and work late, but it is important to learn to set boundaries and make sure I’m taking care of my well-being so you can better serve students and be a role model for them to do the same. Claire mentioned that she “appreciates that chance to advocate for health and wellness in whatever shape that takes for each individual. It directly impacts how we show up to the work we do for our students and our team.”