Nine and counting: K-State receives HEED Award for commitment to diversity, inclusion
Monday, Sept. 19, 2022
Kansas State University is the only higher education institution in Kansas and one of only 104 higher education institutions nationwide to receive the 2022 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from Insight Into Diversity magazine.
MANHATTAN — For the ninth year in a row, Kansas State University's diversity and inclusion efforts are being recognized as among the best in the nation with the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity, or HEED, Award from Insight Into Diversity magazine.
K-State is one of 104 higher education institutions in the nation to earn the award from the magazine and the only institution in Kansas to be recognized. Insights Into Diversity is the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the award, presented to U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion, K-State will be featured in the November issue of the magazine.
"This award is significant as K-State has made diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging a priority with its strategic plan, Our Lens, Our Focus, Our K-State," said Richard Linton, K-State president. "K-State is dedicated to providing equitable access to an ever-more diverse and mutually inclusive public university by building and enriching safe, respectful environments and learning communities that value everyone. The HEED Award shows we are making progress on our vision."
Several key steps in the diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, or DEIB, strategic plan are underway this year, said Be Stoney, interim chief diversity and inclusion officer. Among these include the creation of the DEIB Student Advisory Board, whose members will serve as liaisons, advisors and problem-solvers to the university's new vice president for diversity and inclusion, student-led dialogues on DEIB issues and opportunities to hear and learn from local, national and international DEIB thought leaders.
K-State continues to invest in several programs that encourage the recruitment, retention and graduation of multicultural and first-generation students, including First Scholars, Project IMPACT, Multicultural Academic Success and the Kansas Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. The university is nationally recognized for its LGBTQ+ inclusion programs, policies and practices by Campus Pride, which again named K-State to its most recent list of the Best of the Best Colleges and Universities for LGBTQ+ Students.
The university's more than 40 multicultural student organizations also have a reputation for excellence, including the Black Student Union, which has been perennially recognized as the best Black student leadership council in the Big 12, and K-State's chapter of MANRRS — Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences — whose members earned several national honors at the organization's annual convention this spring. On campus, the new Morris Family Multicultural Student Center has become a hub for intercultural learning and multicultural enrichment at K-State since opening in 2020.
Diversity and inclusion efforts at K-State also include the recruitment of faculty and staff. The university has been ranked as one of the top diverse workforce employers in the nation for three years in a row by DiversityJobs.com.
