School of Nursing receives 6th consecutive Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award

For the sixth consecutive year, the University of Minnesota School of Nursing received the Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine. The school was one of only 13 nursing schools to receive the HEED Award, which 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 inclusion and diversity work being done in the School of Nursing that is transformational and collaborative was noted as evidence of commitment to health equity education. The school’s focus on anti-racism and health equity as part of its Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Enhancement and Enrichment Programming (DEEP) contributed to its selection. Also recognized was the school’s search and selection strategies to increase faculty diversity and create a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for newly hired faculty and staff, inclusion of  questions directly related to diversity, anti-racism and equity in interviews with student applicants, and the elimination of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) requirement in the Master of Nursing, DNP, and PhD program application.

“Over the past year the School of Nursing has made every effort to embed inclusivity, diversity and equity in all areas of our school,” says Clinical Associate Professor Barbara Peterson, PhD, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, director of Inclusivity, Diversity & Equity. “We are honored to have our efforts to support an inclusive and equitable environment for all of our students, faculty and staff recognized by INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine. Receiving this award for the sixth year affirms the school’s sustained commitment to inclusion, diversity and equity and energizes us to continue our 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. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a Health Professions HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for schools where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”

The School of Nursing will be featured along with the 50 other recipients of the 2021 HEED Award in the December issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

More information on inclusivity, diversity and equity efforts at the School of Nursing, including its strategies and plans for anti-racism, can be found here.