Office of Sustainability

Eric Smith – Administration

Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Eric serves as the Director of Health Promotion and Wellness Services within Student Affairs.

Health Promotion and Wellness Services exists to nurture the health and wellbeing of students and the campus community.  As Director, Eric has almost single-handedly built the Health Promotion and Wellness Services office into what it is today. He willingly takes on new responsibilities and thrives on the challenge of introducing new services and programming to meet students’ needs. Eric exemplifies what it means to cultivate a caring community.

Under Eric’s leadership, the Health Promotion and Wellness Services office has developed a comprehensive set of programs to nurture wellbeing on Auburn’s campus.  These include:  Substance Use Services, addressing how substance use can impact life; Nutrition Services, including everything from grocery shopping and meal planning to eating disorders; the we.auburn Green Dot bystander intervention program to stop sexual violence; Safe Harbor for those who have experienced personal violence and harassment; the Be Well Hut peer outreach program: QPR: Question, Persuade, Refer to reduce suicide; the Dream Team, for better sleep; Project Protect, for informed decision-making about sexual behavior; and recently, First 56, a program supporting the transition to college over the first 56 days, when the potential for forming healthy (or not so healthy) habits about student engagement, healthy decision making, and academic achievement is greatest.

As Chair of the Drug-Free Workplace committee, Eric oversaw a revision of the Drug-Free Workplace policy. He collaborated with Human Resources staff to identify creative methods for disseminating resource information to employees.

Eric’s efforts also connect Auburn to international efforts for health and wellness.  Eric is working to make Auburn University a signatory to the Okanagan Charter, a call to action for colleges and universities to “embed health into all aspects of campus culture, across the administration, operations and academic mandates,” and to “lead health promotion action and collaboration locally and globally.”

Eric is a roll-up his sleeves, fully engaged leader, always eager to innovate and work alongside students, his staff, and others to nurture individual and collective health and wellbeing on the Auburn University campus.  Eric’s efforts help Auburn University students cultivate habits of self-care, intentionally positive decision-making and behaviors, and care for others that will serve them throughout their lives.