Buffalo State Receives National Diversity Award
SUNY Buffalo State has received the 2013 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 HEED Award—a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion—Buffalo State will be featured along with 55 other recipients in the magazine’s November 2013 issue.
“We hope the HEED award serves as a way to honor those institutions of higher education that recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion as part of their everyday campus culture,” said INSIGHT Publisher Lenore Pearlstein. The publication selected Buffalo State based on its exemplary diversity and inclusion initiatives and ability to embrace a broad definition of diversity on its campus, including gender, race, ethnicity, veterans, people with disabilities, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community.
“SUNY Buffalo State prides itself on being an institution of access. Students from all backgrounds, including many first-generation students, succeed due to faculty and staff commitment,” said Karen A. Clinton Jones, Buffalo State’s chief diversity officer. “There has been a collective effort to create a campus climate where everyone is valued and encouraged to participate fully as students, faculty, and staff.”
The college has a long history demonstrating its commitment to inclusion by providing mini-grants for academic programs and community projects that herald diversity. They include the Global Book Hour, which serves the city’s culturally diverse schoolchildren, and the Anne Frank Project, which explores social justice through storytelling and the arts. Other institutional efforts include international student exchange programs and Intellectual Foundations courses with diversity perspectives, as well as partnerships with community-based organizations.
For more information about the 2013 HEED award, visit www.insightintodiversity.com.