November 27, 2018

From left are Counseling Center peer educators sophomore Precious Emmanuel, junior Gian Fabian, s... From left are Counseling Center peer educators sophomore Precious Emmanuel, junior Gian Fabian, senior Terrayn Moore, junior Melissa Seek and junior Deon Robinson, kneeling.Susquehanna University recently opened the new Amy E. Winans Center for Wellness, a centralized location in Seibert Hall where students can access a range of wellness and personal growth initiatives.

“Our Winans Center has the potential to change lives by giving students, faculty and staff the ability to enhance their well-being and bring additional positive energy to our campus,” said Stacey Pearson-Wharton, dean of health and wellness and director of the Counseling Center.

According to a 2017 American College Health Association survey of more than 63,000 students at 92 schools, nearly 40 percent of college students said they had felt so depressed in the prior year that it was difficult for them to function. The same survey found that 61 percent of students said they had “felt overwhelming anxiety” in the same time period.

Susquehanna’s new, larger Winans Center allows the university to triple its staff of Koru Mindfulness facilitators—from three to nine—and to increase the number of Koru seminars to five per semester. Koru Mindfulness is an evidence-based program for teaching mindfulness and meditation to college students and other young adults.

The Winans Center is also the home base for Susquehanna’s Take 5 Zones where students can take a break from the stress of classes. Satellite Take 5 zones are in Fisher Hall and the Blough-Weis Library.

Other Winans Center activities and programs include:

  • Stress management techniques
  • Healthy snacks
  • Yoga and meditation
  • Adult coloring books
  • Video games
  • Massage chairs
  • Suicide prevention
  • Stress Less Week

The Winans Center will be open from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. through Dec. 7, and from 7 a.m. until 12 a.m. with the start of the Spring 2019 semester.

Amy E. Winans taught in Susquehanna’s Department of English from 1998 to 2015. She cared deeply about each student’s well-being and during the years prior to her death had been doing work in the field of contemplative pedagogy. The Amy E. Winans Center for Wellness is possible through the generous support of Roger and Della Winans, Amy’s parents.