Ithaca College’s Division of Student Affairs and Campus Life recently filled a key vacancy in its Center for Counseling, Health and Wellness, as Michelle Goode was named the new Program Director for the Center of Health Promotion. Goode takes over for long-time Program Director, Nancy Reynolds, who retired from the college following the conclusion of the 2020-21 academic year. Goode’s hiring comes following an extensive search process led by Bonnie Prunty, Dean of Students.
“I am so pleased to welcome Michelle Goode from Syracuse University to serve as our Program Director for Health Promotion,” Prunty said. “I know that Michelle will bring knowledge, experience, and innovative ideas to this role, which is so crucial in our efforts to be a model for student success, engagement, well-being, and helping students develop their unique potential outlined in our Ithaca Forever strategic plan.”
Goode arrives at Ithaca College from Syracuse University where she served as a Health Promotion Specialist within the Barnes Center at The Arch – Syracuse’s student hub for health and wellness – since March of 2016. During her time at Syracuse, she helped direct and oversee great expansion in the educational resources, support and unique programming for students, faculty and staff at the university. Although Goode specialized in sexual health, relationship violence prevention and bystander intervention, she helped develop and implement a wide variety of programs to support overall student wellness. Hallmarks of her work include: leading a group of 58 campus partners in Syracuse’s “Culture of Respect Campus Collective” to steer campus-wide cultural change, establishing the Student Health Advisory Committee to help further identify student’s health needs, and serving on the Barnes Center Gender Affirming Care team to help improve resources and accessibility for individuals that are transgender or who do not identify within the gender binary. Goode also developed and implemented the onboarding training for the Barnes Center’s graduate assistant and internship programs.
“I am so excited to join the Ithaca College family as the Program Director for the Center for Health Promotion,” Goode stated. “I want to express my appreciation to the search committee and everyone I have had the pleasure to meet during the interview process. Everyone has been so welcoming to me and there has been such a positive energy and excitement about the collaborative initiatives I look forward to building.”
Prior to her time at Syracuse, Goode spent one year as the Prevention Specialist at the County of Oswego Council on Alcoholism and Addictions Inc. In this role, she worked directly with residents of Oswego County, providing educational resources and programming to help limit alcoholism, substance abuse, problem gambling, and other addictions. She also served on several community coalitions geared towards reducing incidents of substance use by minors, supporting well-being efforts, both physical and mental, for residents of the county.
Goode completed her undergraduate degree in Health Science and Exercise Physiology from The College at Brockport in 2012. She earned a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Boston University in 2015. She has also earned several certifications including: Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. and a Certified Peer Educator Facilitator (CPE) from NASPA, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
“I am most looking forward to working with students, as well as other offices and departments to create new wellness opportunities, programming and structural level change to promote holistic well-being at IC,” Goode concluded. “I am very excited to get started!”