Western Wellness

Western Wellness
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5447 USA
(269) 387-3762

National Faculty & Staff Health Assessment (NFSHA)

All WMU full and part-time employees are invited to participate in the National Faculty & Staff Health Assessment (NFSHA) from March 25 through April 15. 

WMU has identified the NFSHA as one of the key metrics in the 2032 Strategic Plan to increase the sense of well-being and safety among faculty and staff. This survey is designed specifically for faculty and staff working on college/university campuses. The survey will provide data to assist WMU and the Western Wellness Committee in making data-informed decisions when addressing the most significant employee health needs and trends. 

Each WMU employee will receive an individualized email to their WMICH account with a link to complete the anonymous and confidential survey. The survey needs to be completed online and will approximately take 30 minutes to complete. Employees should work with their supervisors to complete the survey at their workstations or one of the computer labs on campus.

Employees who complete the survey will be entered to win either one of the 25 available gift cards.

Student employees and Graduate Assistants will not take the NFSHA because they will be invited along with all WMU students to participate in the National College Health Assessment from March 25 to April 15.

FAQs

  • The WMU 2022-2032 Strategic Plan includes goals, objectives, and metrics for well-being (WMU Strategic Plan, page 27). The well-being goal states, “We safeguard the overall health of our community by embedding well-being into all aspects of WMU’s culture, administration, operations, and academics by utilizing the social determinants of health and eight dimensions of wellness- physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, social, environmental, financial, and occupational”. There are five objectives and one key metric that WMU will implement over the next 10 years to improve the well-being of students and employees. The specific metric that WMU set for employees is to increase the sense of well-being and safety among faculty and staff as measured by the National Faculty and Staff Health Assessment (NFSHA). The NFSHA was developed by the American College Health Association, the national organization that will assist WMU in administering this survey.  
  • The NFSHA survey is designed specifically for faculty and staff working on college campuses. This survey will provide anonymous data that will assist WMU and the Western Wellness Committee in making data-informed decisions when determining the most significant employee health needs to prioritize in our efforts.  
  • Western Wellness and the WMU Well-being Collective 
  • Identify common health and wellness risk factors affecting employees’ performance and productivity. 
  • Design and implement evidence-based health-promoting educational programs. 
  • Share data for policy discussions and presentations with faculty and staff, administration, and board members. 
  • Impact campus culture with an opportunity to have an open dialogue about supporting the wellness of employees. 
  • Evaluate progress and the impact of programming with this baseline data report followed by repeat administration of the survey every two years. 
  • March 25 to April 15
  • ACHA will undertake the responsibility of maintaining a national database and providing individualized data sets and results back to WMU. Data transmission is encrypted and firewall securities are in place. After you submit the survey to the secure server, a message thanking you for taking the NCHA-Web will be displayed in your browser window, and you will receive a confirmation email.
  • ACHA agrees to use the employee email addresses provided by WMU only for this single survey effort. Per the Qualtrics, Box.com and ACHA policies, employee email addresses are never shared with another party nor used to any other purpose. The Western Wellness Committee will be responsible for disseminating the results and generating reports for the campus community under the direction of the Vice President for Student Affairs. Individual responses are not connected to any unique identifiers to ensure the confidentiality of responses. De-identified results may be presented at conferences and included in professional publications.
  • Should you have any questions before or during the study, you can contact Beth Northuis at beth.northuis@wmich.edu or (269) 387-3762. You may also contact the Chair of, the Institutional Review Board at (269) 387-8293 or the Vice President for Research at (269) 387-8298 if questions arise during the study.
  • Please find one of the open computer labs on WMUs campus to utilize.
  • Computer Lab List
  • If you were hired after March 10, 2025, you were not included in the list of employees who received the survey.
  • Contact Beth Northuis at beth.northuis@wmich.edu or (269) 387-3762. 
  • No, this is a real survey conducted by the National Faculty & Staff Health Assessment.
  • Gift card winners will be notified by Monday, April 21.
  • The survey is comprehensive and includes holistic wellness questions.
  • No, these are two different surveys and are not connected to your benefits as a WMU employee.