Insight Into Diversity 2019 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award logo
October 16, 2019

The Ohio State University College of Nursing receives national diversity award

Insight Into Diversity honors college with HEED Award for fourth straight year

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Insight Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education, honored The Ohio State University College of Nursing today with the 2019 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award to recognize the college’s outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the College of Nursing has been named as a Health Professions HEED Award recipient. It is the only award recognizing colleges and universities for outstanding diversity and inclusion efforts across their campuses.

“We embrace diversity in people and ideas as a core value and a cultural imperative so that we can champion the potential of our students, faculty and staff,” said Angela Alston, DNP, MPH, APRN, WHNP-BC, FNP-BC, chief diversity officer and assistant professor of clinical practice, and Rachel Muredzwa, MSW, director of equity and inclusion at the College of Nursing. “We are making great strides in building inclusion into all areas of our college, and this award energizes us to reach for continued excellence.”

The college spotlighted several diversity and inclusion initiatives and accomplishments, including:

  • Its Summer Institute for Future Nurses program, which strives to increase the number of students in nursing from underrepresented populations and has hosted nearly 300 students since 2010
  • A 7% year-over-year increase in the graduation rate of Hispanic/Latinx students
  • Required annual unconscious/implicit bias training
  • “Barbers and Beauticians Who Care” and “Ask a Buckeye Nurse,” which provide health screenings in underserved communities in central Ohio
  • N-SPIRE, a student organization that raises public awareness of and provides education about healthcare inequities in underserved populations
  • Services to support student success, including clinical opportunities in diverse communities both locally and abroad

“I am so proud to be part of a college where people of all backgrounds can share diverse ideas, worldviews and experiences that can enrich our culture and all of our world-class programs and initiatives,” said Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, APRN-CNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, vice president for health promotion, university chief wellness officer and dean of the College of Nursing. “We are better able to dream, discover and deliver a healthier world together when we create an environment of respect, diversity and civility where anyone can thrive and achieve their highest potential.”

“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 — 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 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.”

The college and 42 other higher education recipients will be featured in the December 2019 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

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