DIVERSITY INITIATIVES

Dean’s Award for the Promotion of Diversity & Inclusiveness

The College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) recognizes the importance of diversity among students, staff, and faculty and strives to promote an inclusive environment.

The Dean’s Award for the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusiveness is presented annually to an individual, group of individuals, or department/program in the College of Arts & Sciences that exemplifies a commitment to enhancing diversity in education.

The purpose of this award is to highlight best practices and to honor the individual(s) or department responsible for creating or enhancing an inclusive environment.

We are currently accepting nominations or self-nominations for this award.

2023-2024 Call for Applications*

Download a Successful Nomination Package

*Deadline extended to February 5, 2024

2023 Award Winner

Congratulations to

Jeffrey Kaplan

This year’s winner of the Dean’s Award for the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusiveness is Jeffrey Kaplan, for his development of the UNCG Prison Education Program.

This program, which has set up a college education program at Butner Federal Prison, pierces the barrier between prisons and our community and advances the university’s mission of “redefining the 21st century public research university as an inclusive, collaborative, and responsive institution.”

Dr. Kaplan is the driving force behind the program; he has recruited faculty volunteers, coordinated with the prison administration, advertised the talks to people at Butner, and prepared speakers to present to the audience there. The Prison Education Program is transformative not only for the students at Butner, who gain access to our research faculty, but also for the faculty who gain much deeper understandings of the prison industrial complex today.

Education is one of the most powerful tools we have for combating the cycle of recidivism and the problem of mass incarceration in the United States. Dr. Kaplan has placed UNC Greensboro on the cutting edge of this nationwide effort with the creation of the UNCG Prison Education Program.