UNC Greensboro received the 2018 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.
The annual HEED Award is a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
UNCG is one of six institutions in the 17-member UNC System to be honored with the HEED Award in 2018. Other recipients include: East Carolina University, NC State, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Wilmington and Winston-Salem State University. Nationally, 95 other recipients received the award, including Amherst, Case Western, Clemson, Northeastern, Swarthmore and William & Mary.
“As one of the most diverse universities in North Carolina, it is a great honor for UNC Greensboro to receive the HEED award,” said UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. “We serve a vast array of students and are tenaciously committed to their success – this award reflects the collective commitment and work of our campus community to create an inclusive and vibrant learning environment for all.”
INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine selected UNCG in part because of the University’s innovative programs in the areas of recruitment and retention, campus climate and innovative diversity education, each recognized as a model for schools nationwide.
Recruitment and retention
ALIANZA, UNCG’s faculty and staff organization for Latino and Hispanic issues, and their campus partners, have demonstrated success in recruitment and retention. In one year, UNCG’s summer pre-college program for students from Latinx backgrounds, CHANCE (Campamento Hispano Abriendo Nuestro Camino a la Educación/Hispanic Camp Opening the Path to Education), doubled in size to 120 Latinx students and expanded to a weeklong residential camp.
Campus climate
Spartans-In-Dialogue is a five-week interactive dialogue experience designed to build relationships across difference and explore topics related to racial identity, race relations and intersectionality. Trained staff and faculty facilitators assist students with learning about themselves and understanding others. Over 110 students have participated since the launch in 2017.
Innovative diversity education
UNCG Campus Climate Fellow Dr. Julia Mendez Smith and UNCG Diversity Committee Members partnered to offer in-person training to faculty search committee members. With Diversity Conversations, we created a powerful dialogue between our current students from underrepresented groups and faculty members, discussing best practices to overcome potential barriers to hiring a diverse and talented faculty, such as those created by implicit bias. Reaching over 50 faculty members in 2017, the program will repeat in 2018.
“The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being accomplished every day across their campus.”
For more information about the 2018 HEED Award, visit insightintodiversity.com.
Photography by Jiyoung Park, University Communications
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