During the October 19, 2018, Board of Trustees’ meeting, President Harris Pastidesa and Board Chairman John C. von Lehe Jr. were presented with 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 magazine’s publisher Lenore Pearlstein was on hand for the presentation and commended UofSC for being the only university in the Southeastern Conference to have received the award for the past seven years.
“Receiving the HEED Award is a wonderful acknowledgement of the commitment and intentionality the University of South Carolina has undertaken to improve our campus climate. The university has taken great strides to be more inclusive and we will continue to do so,” says Provost Joan Gabel.
“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.”
Chief Diversity Officer John Dozier, Ed.D., says, “We are grateful to Lenore and her team at INSIGHT for this honor. The university has assembled a phenomenal team of experts on diversity and inclusion in our schools and colleges to create innovative programs and to attract and retain world class faculty, all of which make this award possible.”
As a recipient of the annual HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — the University of South Carolina will be featured, along with 95 other recipients, in the November 2018 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
For more information about the 2018 HEED Award, visit insightintodiversity.com.