The Civil Service Council will feature a Civil Service employee at Illinois State University each month to highlight an exceptional colleague and the outstanding work being done on campus. This month, learn about and applaud Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW) program coordinator James Almeda.
What is your position on campus and how long have you been with the University?
Coordinator, assessment and well-being Initiatives. I’ve been working at ISU for about 29 years.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
Getting to work with students, staff, and faculty by helping them to work on improving their well-being. This includes facilitating our small group classes for mindfulness, which is a nationally recognized program that’s based on research. It’s been great to see how much these classes help our participants with managing stress, anxiety, improve sleep, their ability to focus on tasks, and their overall well-being.
I also enjoy being a health and wellness coach. It’s fascinating to work with folks, one-on-one, and helping them to make changes to their lifestyle that improves their well-being. Every journey is unique, and I love seeing and hearing how the changes impact their lives in such a positive way.
I also love being the advisor for our Student Wellness Ambassador Team (SWAT). They are such a fun and wonderful group of students and working with them helps me to feel young. I also appreciate working with my colleague in HPW and getting to teach academic classes for the Department of Health Sciences. Overall, it’s about making connections with people and trying to have a positive impact on their lives.
What are your hobbies or favorite pastimes?
Well, right now is football season. I especially enjoy following the Redbirds and the NFL. I also like to stay physically active by walking a lot and working out at the Student Fitness Center. I enjoy grilling outdoors, spending time with my family, listening to music, meditating, and watching new shows that come up on the different streaming services we have. Also, connecting or re-connecting with old friends and colleagues, especially over a good cup of coffee (soy, vanilla latte). I have an espresso machine at home and I love to make my own latte on the weekends. I also enjoy playing golf, but it’s been awhile so I need to get back out on the golf courses.
What else would you like others to know about you or your time at ISU?
It’s been the most wonderful experience that I could ever have wished for when I was trying to choose a career. The campus community and the Bloomington-Normal community are one of the best places to work and live. I guess that’s why I have stayed so long.
More about Almeda from Nikki Brauer, director of Health Promotion and Wellness:
Working with Jim Almeda is like taking a deep breath and exhaling calm. Seriously, I truly appreciate Jim. We have known each other as colleagues for about 28 years and worked alongside one another building the Health Promotion and Wellness department since 2009. There are so many good things to be shared.
Jim is kind, and so funny. Professionally he leads our departmental assessment efforts, trains those who facilitate our alcohol education classes and coordinates the department wellness coaching and mindfulness programs. And a fun fact, about 30 years ago Jim was hired to lead the very first Peer Education program on Illinois State’s campus which is thriving today as the Student Wellness Ambassador Team (SWAT). Jim was also instrumental in establishing the Student Outreach Gazebo, better known as the G-Spot.
As you see above, Jim has grand portfolio of accomplishments and with a 30-year tenure his knowledge of the Institution is vast. I feel lucky to know Jim, and we are fortunate to have him working for Illinois State University!
