Health is something we all hope to have and maintain. The word "health" is derived from the old English word "hal" meaning hale or whole, sound of body and mind.

Today, the preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization, written in 1978, provides a widely accepted definition of health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

This description is further elaborated to define health as "a resource for everyday life, not the object of living. . .the extent to which an individual or group is able to realize aspirations and satisfy needs and to change or cope with the environment."

Though these are lofty goals, they help us understand why health is a common individual and community ideal. What does this mean for institutions of higher education?

Nils Hasselmo, a former president of the University of Minnesota, argued that "personal and community health is an imperative in any organization, large or small."

He suggested further that health should be added to Ernest Boyer's six principles of community, that "a college or university should be a healthy community, one in which personal and public health is an accepted institutional commitment, backed by policies and programs that apply the knowledge we have acquired."

Campus communities then would become healthy by supporting physical, intellectual and social well-being.

What then, might this mean for us at Penn State? This column, "Healthy You," is an opportunity to begin a public discussion and dialogue about health as a community issue.

Seeing the causes and solutions of health problems as centered in community, or cultural terms, returns health to the realm of public responsibility, public discussion and public health as originally defined.

Doing so centers health in civic life and encourages participatory solutions. Over the next several months, staff from University Health Services will write a weekly column focusing on a particular health issue.

We will talk about a broad range of issues including individual strategies to prevent disease and maintain good health, practical matters regarding health insurance and available health services and critical community health issues such as sexual assault and rape.

Although we have a lot of ideas, we welcome input from students, faculty or staff about topics of particular interest to you.

I believe we have a unique opportunity at Penn State — the opportunity to define goals for health status — for ourselves and for the institution, its students, faculty and staff. We need to ask and answer a multitude of questions.

What is the value of a healthy student body and a healthy work force? What is the relationship between the health of students and that of faculty and staff? What can we do to improve our own health status and support others in their efforts to do the same?

I invite you to join me in a dialogue to try to define answers to these and other questions. In so doing, we can make health a central issue in our individual and community lives.