Okanagan Charter

ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ adopted the Okanagan Charter as a member of the United States Health Promoting Campuses Network on Feb. 28, 2025.

The formal adoption of the charter took place during the Kresge Center Lecture and B-Healthy Summit, organized by the Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences Office of Research and Scholarship and the Roger L. and Mary K. Kresge Center, in partnership with the B-Healthy: Healthy Campus Initiative.

Request an institutional commitments brochure by emailing bhealthy@binghamton.edu.

Institutional commitments

ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ recognizes that the optimal health and well-being of our students, faculty and staff are the foundation of success in our learning, working and living environments. 

Our campus is committed to promoting health and well-being throughout the campus community and worldwide, aligning closely with the principles outlined in the Okanagan Charter. The charter serves as a framework for universities to embed health into all aspects of campus culture and lead health promotion efforts both locally and globally, a goal woven into the fabric of ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ and its culture.

ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ’s Roadmap to Premier strategic plan outlines a vision for the institution’s growth and development, focusing on achieving national and global recognition as a leading public university. These principles closely align with those of the Okanagan Charter. The plan consists of 6 strategic priorities which focus on the following:

Academic Excellence – Enhancing the quality of teaching, research and learning with top-tier faculty and providing students with transformative educational experiences.

Research Innovation – Advancing sustainability, health and technology through collaboration.

Student Success – Improving retention, graduation and career outcomes with support services.

Community Engagement – Strengthening ties with local and global communities.

Operational Efficiency – Optimizing operations and resources for growth.

This document provides an overview of some of the programs and initiatives undertaken by ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ and our campus community that align with the charter and its calls to action.

Our vision

Binghamton as an institution is dedicated to higher education — one that combines an international reputation for graduate education, research, scholarship and creative endeavor with the best undergraduate programs available at any public university.

Our mission

ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ is committed to collaborative transdisciplinary research, inspirational artistic endeavors and high-impact educational experiences within an environment that advances diversity, equity and inclusion; international perspectives; and community engagement.

Our values

Our campus values are described through three words — Unity, Identity and Excellence.

Unity

We are an inclusive community made up of people from diverse backgrounds who come together to learn, discover and serve. We have developed a common bond — the Binghamton bond — that will be ours for a lifetime.

Identity

We are an academically selective community that shares ideas across departments, disciplines and borders. We encourage faculty, students and staff to ask unexpected questions, foster open dialog and develop innovative solutions to important problems.

Excellence

We cannot be all things to all people. However, we pursue our goals with determination, striving for intellectual and personal growth, especially in the face of adversity.

Call to action 1

Embed health into all aspects of campus culture, across the administration, operations and academic programs. 

The overview below highlights some of the ways ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ implements these principles by integrating health across its administration, operations and academic programs. Some initiatives are applicable to more than one call to action.

1.1 Embed health in all campus policies

Review, create and coordinate campus policies and practices, so that all planning and decision-making takes account of and supports the flourishing of people, campuses, communities and our planet. 

1.2: Create supportive campus environments

Enhance the campus environment as a living laboratory, identifying opportunities to study and support health and well-being, as well as sustainability and resilience in the natural, social, economic, cultural, academic, organizational and learning environments.

1.3: Generate thriving communities and a culture of well-being

Be proactive and intentional in creating empowered, connected, resilient campus communities that foster an ethic of care, compassion, collaboration and community action. 

1.4: Support personal development 

Foster opportunities that build resilience, growth and life skills, empowering students, staff and faculty to reach their potential and become engaged citizens.

1.5: Create or re-orient campus services

Coordinate and design campus services to support equitable access, enhance health and well-being, optimize human and ecosystem potential, and promote a supportive organizational culture.

Spotlight 

The B-Healthy: Healthy Campus Initiative was created in 2012 to strengthen the visibility of health and well-being as important values on campus. The initiative works to infuse health into key areas of campus through collaborations, partnerships, programs, initiatives and assessment/evaluation activities.

ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ’s new Three Sisters Garden honors Indigenous traditions and reconnects with ancestral lands. Located in the Science I courtyard, it features corn, beans and squash — key crops in Haudenosaunee agriculture. The space aims to integrate Indigenous knowledge into academic programs, fostering a deeper understanding of ecological and historical practices. Volunteers and students help maintain the garden, while the Onondaga Nation’s heirloom seeds provide a meaningful connection to the community’s past and future.

The Office of Sustainability drives ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ’s efforts to promote sustainable development by educating the community, addressing urgent societal challenges, reducing environmental and social impacts, and empowering individuals to take action. Sustainability is a central priority as the University strives to enhance both the community and the environment.

Call to action 2

Lead health promotion action and collaboration locally and globally.

The overview below highlights some of the ways ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ implements these principles by integrating health across its administration, operations and academic programs. Some initiatives are applicable to more than one call to action.

2.1: Integrate health, well-being and sustainability in multiple disciplines to develop change agents

Use cross-cutting approaches to embed an understanding and commitment to health, well-being and sustainability across all disciplines and curricula, thus ensuring the development of future citizens with the capacity to act as agents for health-promoting change beyond campuses. 

2.2: Advanced research, teaching and training for health promotion knowledge and action

Contribute to health-promoting knowledge production, application, standard-setting and evaluation that advance multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary research agendas relevant to real-world outcomes, and also, ensure training, learning, teaching and knowledge exchange that will benefit the future well-being of our communities, societies and planet. 

  • Healthy Campus Agents and Healthy Campus Peer Agents
  • School of Applied Health Sciences and Divisions of Public Health and Health and Wellness within the Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences
  • Transdisciplinary Areas of Excellence 
  • Undergraduate Pre-Health and Public Health programs 
  • Undergraduate programs: 
    ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ offers undergraduate majors in nursing and global public health, along with minors in forensic health, health and wellness, speech and hearing science and public health.
  • Graduate programs: 
    The graduate programs include a range of advanced degrees, such as MS and DNP in nursing, MS in speech language pathology, doctoral programs in physical therapy (DPT) and occupational therapy (OTD), and MS, PhD and PharmD in pharmaceutical sciences. Additionally, certificate programs are available in disaster management and forensic health.

Spotlight 

ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ’s Health Sciences Campus serves as a hub for biopharmaceutical and healthcare translational research, supporting the University’s growing initiatives in health sciences and healthcare.
 
The Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences has academic divisions in nursing, health and wellness studies, public health, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech and language pathology, offering undergraduate and graduate programs.

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences offers graduate programs leading to a Master of Science or a Doctor of Philosophy degree in pharmaceutical sciences and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. An entry-level pharmacy technician training program is also available.

The Pharmacy Research and Development Center focuses on conducting preclinical experiments to assess drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and efficacy both in vivo and in vitro. This center supports drug development activities within ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ and beyond.

2.3: Lead and partner towards local and global action for health promotion

Build and support inspiring and effective relationships and collaborations on and off campus to develop, harness and mobilize knowledge and action for health promotion locally and globally.

Adopting the Okanagan Charter is a significant step in enriching the University’s commitment to health and 
well-being for its students, faculty and staff.
— President Harvey Stenger 

ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ is committed to promoting health and well-being and has been doing great work that aligns with the principles of the Okanagan Charter for more than a decade. It seems only natural that Binghamton would adopt the Charter as a formal and public commitment to the continuation of this work in a systematic and sustainable way. â€” Johann Fiore-Conte, associate vice president of student affairs and chief health and wellness officer

News

ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ adopts Okanagan Charter to become a U.S. Health Promoting Campus
BingU News, March 3, 2025


February 28, 2025