SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga University announced on Thursday that it was named a recipient of the 2024 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award.
The award is distributed by the Insight Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.
Gonzaga is recognized among 113 other institutions named as HEED award winners in the November-December 2024 issue of the magazine.
Robin Kelley, Gonzaga’s chief diversity officer, said the award is a reflection of the considerable work done by Gonzaga’s Office of Inclusive Excellence as well as other university offices, students, faculty and staff across campus.
“I am honored for Gonzaga University to have received the HEED Award,” Kelley said. “Not only does Gonzaga University receiving the award reflect that we are living our mission and values, but it also demonstrates our longstanding commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Rarely can this work be done alone, or in one area of the university. This award is due to the efforts of many offices, students, faculty, staff, and administrators grounded in the work.”
According to a press release from the university, recent campus efforts to increase diverse voices include the publication and implementation of Gonzaga’s Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan, a road map for campus stakeholders to pursue belonging, equity and justice as called for by the school’s Jesuit, humanistic mission.
Additionally, Gonzaga is also home to several community and ally groups such as Colleagues of Color, Transnational and International Faculty and Staff and the Intercultural and Multicultural Professionals Advancing Change Together (IMPACT) group, which works to support students, faculty and staff from racial, ethnic and other marginalized groups that are underrepresented on campus.
The Office of Inclusive Excellence seeks to provide and support programs designed to help international Gonzaga community members, aid undocumented students, address bias through the BIAS Team and host the Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy to deepen and expand the collective cultural competency of the GU community.
“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 – leadership support for diversity, campus culture and climate, supplier diversity, and many other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of Insight Into Diversity. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”
Kelley notes Gonzaga’s work in recruiting and retaining faculty from diverse backgrounds and increasing enrollment of students from underrepresented communities, as well as the implementation of the Inclusive Excellence Strategic Plan, helped Gonzaga earn the HEED award.
Only five percent of faith-based schools were named HEED award recipients in 2024, according to Kelley.
For more information on HEED or the Insight Into Diversity magazine, visit their website.
