New 'Be Well UC' Employee Wellness Program Close to Launch

UC’s new comprehensive and voluntary incentive-based wellness program has a new name: Be Well UC.

The catchy slogan comes from Lauri Nandyal, an adjunct associate professor in the College of Medicine.  The newly formed

Wellness Advisory Committee

selected her entry from more than 100 submissions in a spring naming contest.

For her efforts, Nandyal received a $100 gift card to the UC Bookstore and is now an honorary Wellness Ambassador.   

The new program, which launches Sept. 1, will offer a number of health and wellness opportunities, seminars, coaching and challenges for employees, all with incentives for participation.  

The goal is to educate, support and empower faculty and staff to make healthy lifestyle choices while building an overall culture of health, said Peg Buttermore, UC’s interim chief human resources officer and a committee member.  

Buttermore said the committee—comprised of faculty and staff from colleges and departments throughout the university—is encouraged by the level of employee interest in the new program.  

Forty-nine employees applied to become a Wellness Ambassador.  Team members serve as liaisons between their units and the Wellness program and advisory committee, help plan campus-wide events and work to encourage and motivate fellow faculty and staff.   

Programming will be open to all employees and available on all campuses. Faculty and staff enrolled in a UC medical plan will have the chance to earn up to

$265 in incentives

during the program’s first year.  

Program details will soon be unveiled via a new website, with additional information shared in departmental meetings, promotional flyers and material distributed across campus and in UC E-Currents.

Faculty and staff are encouraged to take a

brief online survey

to share their perspectives of health on campus and provide feedback about programming interests and preferences.