New Wellness Center at The College of New Rochelle
Advances Its Commitment to Education of the Whole Person

Constructing a building dedicated to wellness education represents the next level in
The College of New Rochelle’s long history of fostering innovative educational programs.

The new $25 million Wellness Center—a critical academic facility—will bring together and integrate a variety of health-related educational programs on campus including nursing, physical education and health education.  The comprehensive state-of-the-art center will create a holistic approach to health and learning by combining educational programs and health seminars, wellness initiatives and community outreach.  Plans for the new 60,000-square-foot health and activities facilities were announced today.

“Through the Wellness Center, the College will advance its longtime commitment to education of the whole person,” said Dr. Stephen J. Sweeny, President of The College of New Rochelle.  “Ours is an innovative model for understanding educational principles of wellness and a new approach to bringing that knowledge to students and into the community.”

“A healthy campus is the function of the curriculum,” said Dr. Dorothy Larkin, Associate Professor and Coordinator of CNR’s Master’s Program in Nursing, who sees the Wellness Center as a hub of integrated programs and teaching methodologies where students and the community-at-large would learn about primary prevention and stress management.

The Center will consist of several technologically equipped learning spaces for conferences, seminars and classroom instruction.  It will allow faculty and students to develop health and wellness education modules that address the specific curricular needs of the CNR communities as well as further the larger national goals of preventing major chronic illnesses, injuries and infectious diseases.  Students at all CNR campuses will be educated in healthy lifestyle habits and will be encouraged to become models of wellness.

The Wellness Center supports CNR’s commitment to the National Health Initiative known as Healthy People 2010.  For close to two decades, CNR’s Nursing Program has led the way in reaching out to the student population at New Rochelle and its campuses in Brooklyn, Bronx’s Co-op City, downtown Manhattan, Harlem and the South Bronx about healthy living. Health fairs have evolved over the years, for example, into on-site classes and seminars for students and community members such as the one recently held at the Rosa Parks Campus in Harlem about the risk factors of obesity and high blood pressure, and the need for a healthful diet.  Similarly, the School of New Resources students will have access—both through interactive technologies and in their own multi-purpose classrooms and seminar rooms—to education modules and other wellness resources that will be offered at the Wellness Center on the New Rochelle campus.  Other disciplines, such as the undergraduate social work program and master’s programs, are also expected to comprise the Wellness Center.

The College of New Rochelle is one of 60 women’s colleges in the nation today.  CNR’s School of Arts and Sciences is all female.  Men are enrolled in the College’s Graduate school, School of Nursing and School of New Resources.

Established in 1976, the School of Nursing is widely recognized for innovation and excellence in programming that is responsive to the public’s changing health needs.  The baccalaureate program at CNR prepares a nurse generalist who practices in a variety of settings with clients of all ages from diverse and multicultural populations.  A CNR graduate is prepared to assume beginning leadership roles and facilitate change to improve the quality of client care in the health care system.  The master’s program prepares a nurse professional at advanced levels of practice in health care management.  Specialty options in the program provide opportunities at all levels of advanced practice including health promotion and restoration, disease prevention and provision of care in acute and chronic illness. CNR was the first college in the nation to offer a master’s program in holistic nursing.

In 1972, CNR became a forerunner in adult higher education and today is recognized as a model for adult higher education by founding the School of New Resources.  Currently serving 4,500 adult students on six campuses, these students benefit from flexible class schedules and dynamic classroom experiences where the exchange of ideas is informed by life experience.  Their education is enriched and interactive, and they are able to conduct busy lives while earning a college degree in their own communities.

The versatility of the Wellness Center programs will provide the College and its campuses throughout New York City with a new approach to health education as well as an added resource for promoting a healthier lifestyle and building healthier communities.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The first Catholic college for women in New York State, The College of New Rochelle was founded in 1904 by the Ursuline Order. Today, it comprises the all-women School of Arts & Sciences, and three schools which admit women and men: the School of New Resources (for adult learners), the School of Nursing and the Graduate School.  The main campus of the College is located in lower Westchester County, 16 miles north of New York City.  The College maintains six other campus locations in New York City. Visit the College’s website at www.cnr.edu