Health and Wellness
3-minute read

June 2025 BWI Spotlight

Emily Keeler, Wellness and Community Engagement Senior Representative, College of Pharmacy
By Nicole Cousineau
June 2, 2025

Congratulations to Emily Keeler on being selected as the BWI Spotlight for June! Emily is passionate about helping create an environment where people don’t just work, they thrive. We are all short on time, so Emily focuses on two areas: passive and partnerships. She tries to offer a variety of passive wellness offerings such as fresh fruit in the front office, to-go craft kits, or coloring posters in the hallway. Emily and her team also focus on partnerships and combining resources. This may be partnering with the Staff Advisory Council to host a litter cleanup for Earth Day or student-centered events in collaboration with the Pharmacy Council, one of our student organizations. Emily also has a big push at various times throughout the year, such as Heart Month where they do a whole month’s worth of activities around that theme. Congratulations!

Why did you join the Buckeye Wellness Innovator program?

I have been a BWI almost since the inception of BWIs. I’m passionate about helping to create an environment where people don’t just do their work, they thrive. This gives me an opportunity to do that at my workplace.

Why is being a Buckeye Wellness Innovator important to you?

I think we are all at our best and thrive at work when we are happy and healthy.

Share a few ways you are embracing the 10 dimensions of wellness and providing opportunities for faculty/staff to engage in activities.

I put together an annual calendar to plan activities for the year. We use research studies and the college’s biometric feedback to inform the following year’s programming.

With so many competing priorities while at work, it can be difficult to find time to plan wellness activities for faculty/staff. How do you find time to prioritize wellness and come up with new or innovative ideas for wellness activities?

I am continually seeking feedback from our employees and students, while also partnering to make sure we aren’t asking for the same thing through multiple groups. Less can be more.

We are all short on time, so we focus on two areas: passive and partnerships. We try to offer a variety of passive wellness offerings such as fresh fruit in the front office, to-go craft kits, or coloring posters in the hallway. These can be done at the end user’s discretion. We also focus on partnerships and combining resources. This may be partnering with the Staff Advisory Council to host a litter cleanup for Earth Day or student-centered events in collaboration with the Pharmacy Council, one of our student organizations. We also have a big push at various times throughout the year such as Heart Month where we do a whole month’s worth of activities around that theme.

How have you overcame barriers to engaging colleagues in your wellness efforts during the workday?

Passive activities tend to be the best. I also chat with folks to see how we are doing and where we can do better.

Has your leadership embraced wellness and/or your role as a BWI?

Absolutely! I have been a BWI through three deans and each one has committed to supporting our BWI and wellness efforts. Our executive committee and chairs also provide support for their respective areas. It really makes providing wellness programming so much easier.

Why is it important for leaders to embrace and model wellness behavior and your role as a BWI?

Wellness programming is important for ROI and employee productivity, but most importantly, we are a work family and we want to make sure everyone is getting the wellness they need.

How do your leaders model wellness behavior?

Our leaders are great at helping to promote activities, allowing me to present, attending events, and most importantly, allowing their employees to engage in wellness at work.

What benefits have you seen or experienced, personally or professionally, as a result of the program?

We track our progress through our annual Biometric and PHA data. We also conduct various surveys and other feedback.

If you could accomplish anything as a Buckeye Wellness Innovator team, what would your dream be?

I think we are accomplishing it. People are happy and healthy. Can we always do better? Yes. But we have the structure we need to be able to do that.

What advice would you pass on to other Buckeye Wellness Innovators to help them create a culture of wellness in their department?

Plan. Ask for a small budget. Get creative. And it doesn’t all have to be an event. Passive programming is just as important as a big event.