School of Nursing receives 2018 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award

For the third consecutive year, the University of Minnesota School of Nursing has been recognized with the Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine. The HEED Award honors U.S. nursing, medical, dental, pharmacy, osteopathic, veterinary, and other health schools and centers that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The school’s efforts to recruit and retain diverse and underrepresented students, its policies and strategies to train and mentor faculty, and its innovative diversity education programming including the Diversity Deep Dive focus on poverty contributed to the award selection.

“In the School of Nursing we often say, ’diversity is every person's everyday work,’” said Clinical Professor Teddie Potter, PhD, RN, FAAN, director of Inclusivity and Diversity. “The fact that we have been awarded the HEED Award for Health Professionals three years in a row demonstrates that students, staff and faculty understand that inclusivity and diversity is a core value and that what we say and do matters. Each of us has a role to play in promoting safe and inclusive places to learn and work.” 

“The Health Professions 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. 

The school, which was one of only 11 nursing schools and 35 health schools in all selected from the nearly 175 reviewed, will be featured in the December issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.