Buffalo State Receives National Diversity Award for Eighth Consecutive Year
Buffalo State College has received the 2020 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.
This marks the eighth year in a row that INSIGHT Into Diversity has named Buffalo State a HEED recipient. HEED is a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. This year, 90 colleges and universities across the country were honored with the award.
“We are delighted to be among the institutions that value diversity both in and out of the classroom,” said Buffalo State President Katherine Conway-Turner. “Buffalo State College has a long history of doing just that, from our commitment to hiring underrepresented minorities as faculty members to our inclusive student life programming. We are proud to provide a campus atmosphere that ensures students from all ethnicities, religious backgrounds, sexual orientations, and abilities feel safe, welcome, and supported.”
“Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”
Along with recently hiring four faculty members as part of SUNY’s Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Growth (PRODiG) initiative and establishing an undergraduate program in Africana studies, Buffalo State offers ongoing programming and initiatives that specifically garnered the attention of INSIGHT Into Diversity.
They include the Diversity Dialogue Speakers Series; the Beyond Boundaries: Dare to Be Diverse film series; the President’s Council on Equity and Campus Diversity; the Anne Frank Project; numerous community partnerships through service-learning programs; and the Community Academic Center, where students, faculty, and staff members assist underserved populations, including immigrants and refugees.
“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 done every day across their campus.” For more information about the 2020 HEED Award, please visit the Insight Into Diversity website.
For more information about Buffalo State’s diversity efforts, please visit the Equity and Campus Diversity Office website.
