San Diego State was recently honored as one of INSIGHT Into Diversity’s Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award recipients. The school will be recognized in the magazine’s November issue, according to NewsCenter.
SDSU Provost Nancy Marlin said the university exceeds in diversity.
“I am very pleased and honored that we were recognized but not at all surprised,” SDSU Provost Nancy Marlin said. “We do extraordinary work in the area of diversity.”
The 2013 HEED award was open to all colleges and universities, and is the only national award for diversity and inclusion.
SDSU was recognized along with 55 other colleges and universities who received the HEED award this year. Other award recipients included City University of New York School of Law, Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University and Ohio State University.
“It’s a very important accomplishment with national recognition given to organizations that exhibit outstanding efforts and success in the area of diversity and inclusion,” SDSU Chief Diversity Officer Aaron Bruce said.
Aspects that distinguished SDSU as a diverse campus include the number of minority students, the international student program, and advantages for veterans, disabled and LGBTQ students.
According to INSIGHT Into Diversity’s website, SDSU’s Fall 2013 freshman class shows diversity with 59-percent self-identified students of color. Additionally, the university was raked as No. 14 among Up-and-Coming schools and No. 20 for ethnic diversity by a 2013 U.S. News and World Report compilation of America’s Best Colleges.
The magazine also recognized SDSU for its emphasis on student success and commitment to increasing graduation and retention rates for all students, including “historically underrepresented groups.”
“The planning that we are doing contributes bringing diverse and high-achieving students into the campus,” Bruce said. “It’s not just bringing them in that is important, it’s also helping them to graduate.”
Some of SDSU’s first-year students felt the impact of attending a school with a diverse student body.
“The diversity has affected me because back home, I went to a charter school where it was only Latinos,” international business freshman Rosalva Melara said. ”Coming here, there is more diversity than I was used to back home. For me it is a good thing because I have gotten to meet new people.”
The HEED Award recognized that SDSU’s diversity impacted the way students learn and interact with the peers.
“If you’re in a classroom and everybody thinks like you and says the same things you do, you’re not going to benefit very much,” Marlin said. “Having people of different backgrounds and perspectives really enriches the educational experience.”
Photo by Monica Linzmeier, photo editor.
