Texas State University is one of four universities to earn Campus Nature Rx Academy Certification after completing the Campus Nature Rx Network’s (CNRx) year-long certificate program.
TXST, which became part of the Campus Nature Rx Network in 2025, joins the academy’s inaugural cohort — teams from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Iowa, San Francisco State University and New Mexico Highlands University — in a growing global network of certified practitioners.
Over 12 sessions, the TXST team built evidence-based, equitable and accessible Nature Rx initiatives designed to improve mental health and overall well-being through nature engagement.
Because CNRx programming is place-based and community-driven, each graduating team designed a strategic implementation plan built around its own campus culture, local resources and student needs. Certified institutions are authorized to display the official Campus Nature Rx Academy Certification logo on their websites and marketing materials.
The need is well documented. In the most recent national Healthy Minds Study, 45% of college students screened positive for depression or anxiety, and roughly two-thirds reported that emotional or mental difficulties had hurt their academic performance in the past month (Healthy Minds Network, 2025). CNRx holds that institutions have a responsibility to support the mental and physical health of everyone on campus alongside their intellectual development, and that structured access to nature is a practical, low-barrier way to do it (Rakow & Eells, 2019).
The academy is directed by CNRx co-founders and co-directors Don Rakow, Ph.D., of Cornell University and Dorothy Ibes, Ph.D., of William & Mary University, and combines live virtual workshops, one-on-one coaching, individualized feedback on strategic plan development and access to member-only resources including the CNRx Campus Profile Tool, research guides and Campus Nature Rx funding guidance.
Other universities in the class of 2026 are Texas A&M University, California State University-Monterey Bay and North Carolina State University.
For more information, visit campusnature.com.