Aug. 1 marked the first official day of the University's tobacco-free campus program. The initiative is part of the University's focus on student wellness and the overarching strategy of implementing programming and infrastructure to connect the "mind, body and spirit" of students.

"We care about you, and we care about your health," Marc Johnson, president of the University, said in his remarks at the Opening Ceremony welcoming new students to campus last week. "Health and wellness, you will quickly find, are part of the connective tissue of this campus. We will teach you skills to maintain your health, to live a wellness-centered life that will be a great professional asset to you. It will help you in the workplace. It will help you be more marketable. It will help be more productive. It will add years to your life."  

The initiative, endorsed by the Faculty Senate, Staff Employees Council, Graduate Student Association and Associated Students of the University of Nevada, has been in development since March 2014. (See related story here).  

The program is voluntary - students, staff, faculty and guests of the University are encouraged to participate. To foster a tobacco-free lifestyle on campus, ashtrays will be gradually removed, new signage has been hung in various locations and, as part of the ongoing campus-wide communications campaign launched in 2014, pocket cards printed with tobacco cessation program information were distributed by University parking services with each parking pass at the beginning of the semester. The cards may also be passed along to remind people seen using tobacco products that the University is a tobacco-free campus.  

"More than 1,500 universities across the country have similar programs, and most have implemented tobacco-free initiatives in the same way with good success, due to the support on campus and the willingness to participate in a healthy movement," Enid Jennings, health educator for the Student Health Center, said. "We are proud of the collective way our campus chose to support this initiative. Public participation helps create a supportive and healthy environment for those trying to quit."  

Jennings said the adult smoking rate in Washoe County is about 19.8 percent, and according to the spring 2014 National College Health Assessment, only 5 percent of University of Nevada, Reno students report daily tobacco use.  

As a component of this initiative, cessation resources have been developed for individuals who decide it is time to quit. Jennings said more than a hundred people have signed up for online cessation courses in the time those resources have been offered by the Student Health Center.  

Information on those and many other health-related topics, can be found at unr.edu/live-well.