Emory received a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for the third consecutive year, “Insight Into Diversity” magazine recently announced. The magazine also named the university a Diversity Champion for the first time, a distinction reserved for the top tier of winners.
HEED Awards recognize colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. Recipients are selected by “Insight into Diversity,” the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.
Emory joins a small pool of Diversity Champions — around 15 to 20 in previous years — and 113 HEED winners in 2024.
“This national award recognizes our commitment to creating a more-inclusive Emory and its importance in guiding our educational mission,” says Carol Henderson, vice provost for diversity and inclusion, chief diversity officer and adviser to the president.
“To be recognized at the level of Diversity Champion means our efforts to integrate these principles and values across many sectors of our campus community are noteworthy in the top tier of HEED Award recipients. It means that Emory serves as a model for other institutions across the country who are on this journey with us to make learning more innovative, accessible and transformative.”
Emory excelled in a number of diversity and inclusion categories related to student, faculty and staff experience — and the evaluation process cast a wide net in the factors it considered, says Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of “Insight Into Diversity.”
“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 — leadership support for diversity, campus culture and climate, supplier diversity and many other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” she says.
“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.”
The 2024 HEED Award is one of many accolades given to Emory for its work in the DEI space. In 2023, Henderson received the Rising Star Award at the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education’s Inclusive Excellence Awards.
Other schools, units honored
In addition to Emory’s university-wide recognition, the School of Medicine received a 2024 Health Professions HEED Award on its first attempt applying.
After embarking on a new strategic plan in 2021, the school has made strides in matters of equity and inclusion.
Sheryl Heron — associate dean for community engagement, equity and inclusion and chief diversity and inclusion officer for the School of Medicine — is proud to be part of this year’s recipients.
“Being a recipient of the award advances our strategic aims grounded in awareness, learning and growing, inclusive culture and climate and community engagement,” Heron says. “In alignment with the university’s commitment to inclusive excellence, we continue to hold ourselves accountable and transparently celebrate our efforts while we continue to push forward to our true North."
In the spring, Emory Libraries was honored with the Library Excellence in Access and Diversity (LEAD) Award, also selected by “Insight Into Diversity.” The LEAD Award honors academic library programs and policies and initiatives that encourage and support diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across their campus and surrounding community.
Henderson is proud of the work being done across the university to make Emory a more inclusive community.
“While there is still much work to do, I am so grateful to the many colleagues, faculty, staff and students who come to Emory each day to make this place a wonderful place to be,” she says.