Buffalo State Receives 'Insight Into Diversity' Award for Fifth Year
Buffalo State has received the 2017 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the annual award, Buffalo State will be featured along with 80 other recipients in the magazine's November 2017 issue.
This marks the fifth year in a row that Buffalo State has received this national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
INSIGHT Into Diversity selected Buffalo State for its numerous campus initiatives that celebrate diversity in and out of the classroom.
They include an ongoing Diversity Dialogue Speakers Series; the “I Love Consent” campaign; the annual Anne Frank Project social justice conference; and the Beyond Boundaries Dare to Be Diverse film series presented in conjunction with the Burchfield Penney Art Center and the college’s Communication Department. Other campus initiatives demonstrate a commitment to diversity beyond the country's borders, allowing students to study in such countries as Chile, Haiti, Rwanda, and Zambia. Likewise, the college host students from such countries as Algeria, China, Columbia, Egypt, Estonia, France, Guinea, Hungary, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nigeria, and South Korea.
““This is an institutional commitment. Our efforts to address diversity at Buffalo State are thoughtful and supported by campus constituents across our academic departments, the division of student affairs, the Burchfield Penny Art Center, as well as community partners,” said Karen A. Clinton Jones, Buffalo State’s chief diversity officer and director of the Equity and Campus Diversity Office. “As a campus, we have a long-standing history demonstrating our commitment toward supporting an inclusive environment where employees and students alike can be authentic.We are committed to ensuring that our civic, urban-engaged campus is one that is welcoming, diverse, and inclusive.Buffalo State not only recruits students’ representative of diverse backgrounds, we continue to work toward increasing the diversity among our employees, particularly our tenure track faculty. We have a campus community—faculty, staff, and students alike—who view our diversity as a strength.”
The college awards mini-grants that provide financial assistance to projects, workshops, and activities that have institutional impact and support diversity. Award recipients for 2017 include “New Developments in the Study of Race and Politics;” “One Love Foundation – Escalation Workshop and Yards for Yeardley;” “Men Who Network;” “Addressing ‘Othering’ with Oral Histories, Storytelling, and Self-care Practices;” “The 6th Cross-Border Post Keynesian Conference: Populism, Heterodoxy, and Globalization;” “Death and Dissent at Kent State in the 1960s;” “I Am Culture;” “Flag Football Showdown;” “Human Library of Buffalo;” and “The Women Changing Arts Leadership Festival and Symposium.”
“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.