For the second consecutive year, Cornell University has been recognized with the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity publication in higher education. The HEED award is the only national recognition honoring colleges and universities that exhibit campuswide success in diversity and inclusion.

“Receiving the 2015 HEED Award is testimony to the efforts and initiatives that Cornell’s colleges and divisions have undertaken to promote inclusion and diversity throughout their departments and units; in their student, staff and faculty recruitment and retention practices; and in their interactions with the local community,” said Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources and safety services. “Our efforts must continue and become woven into our everyday working, studying and teaching lives at Cornell.”

Lynette Chappell-Williams, associate vice president for inclusion and workforce diversity, said: “The HEED Award assesses the initiatives of all our key campus constituent groups and gives us an opportunity to evaluate our diversity and inclusion practices against our higher education peers. HEED’s holistic view of diversity and inclusion aligns very well with Cornell’s campuswide engagement with the Toward New Destinations diversity and inclusion approach.”

Toward New Destinations requires each college and administrative unit to identify annually five diversity initiatives for undergraduate students, graduate and professional students, postdoctoral associates and academic professionals, staff, faculty, the off-campus community, as well as parents, alumni, friends and donors.

Cornell’s initiatives include college, unit and universitywide programs targeted at recruiting historically underrepresented and first-generation minority students; fostering pipeline, partnership and summer programs; increasing employment of military veterans and people with disabilities; and creating programs that embrace difference and foster community.

This year, Cornell has been able to go beyond the reporting of diversity and inclusion efforts across campus to measure more closely the impact of diversity and inclusion initiatives on their intended audiences, Chappell-Williams said. “We have also made strides in further assessing the university’s climate for engagement, inclusion and achievement,” she said.

Cornell will be featured, along with 91 other recipients, in the November 2015 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.