Texas Well-being Faculty Ambassadors

About the Texas Well-being Faculty Ambassadors pilot program

Texas Well-being is launching a pilot program in which faculty will collaborate as leaders of well-being efforts across The University of Texas at Austin. To participate, a faculty member will submit a proposal with their ideas for leading well-being efforts in their department and/or college. If their proposal is selected, they will receive a stipend to put these ideas into action over the next year and a half.

Goals of the Texas Well-being Faculty Ambassadors pilot program

• Extend the impact of Texas Well-being by recruiting and collaborating with faculty to lead well-being efforts in their specific college and/or department.
• Create a more coordinated system of faculty who explicitly support student well-being across the University.
• Develop faculty well-being leaders who can support their fellow faculty, staff, and administrators in creating well-being programs that have direct impacts on student well-being both inside and outside classrooms.

Application process

Selected ambassadors will participate in a new ambassador orientation meeting at the end of February or beginning of March. They will be inducted into the pilot program in April.

If selected, Texas Well-being Ambassadors are required to:

1. Participate in mental health training such as Mental Health First Aid, Longhorns Listen, or another similar training.
2. Meet as a group with fellow TX WB Ambassadors monthly to share implementation strategies and struggles
3. Meet individually with Texas Well-being coordinator monthly to plan implementation
4. Recruit a minimum of 3-5 fellow faculty to actively participate in Texas Well-being each long semester
5. Distribute Texas Well-being student survey to students in all collaborating classrooms
6. Participate in Texas Well-being faculty survey and distribute to all active collaborators in college/department
7. Provide end-of-year report to Texas Well-being coordinator

Examples of Texas Well-being Ambassadors’ Activities

• Develop and deliver workshops to fellow faculty
• Form and lead a committee of faculty and staff to develop activities for supporting student well-being both inside and outside classrooms
• Conduct observations with feedback specifically focused on well-being strategies and methods within classrooms
• Develop and deliver workshops about supporting student well-being in the classroom to graduate students
• Identify a specific set of well-being strategies to create workshops, resources, etc. for implementation department- or college-wide
• Create a Canvas course, website, etc. for the college/department that provides ideas and resources for supporting student well-being in different learning environments
• Develop resources to support specific well-being needs of students in their college/department
• Organize well-being events for faculty, staff, and/or students to participate in

Funding

Faculty members selected for the Texas Well-being Ambassadors program will receive a stipend and programming funding.