Cal State East Bay Receives 2014 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from聽INSIGHT Into Diversity聽Magazine

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  • September 16, 2014

Cal State East Bay Receives 2014 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine

Cal State East Bay has received the 2014 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

The annual HEED award is a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. Cal State East Bay was one of 83 institutions honored this year. As a recipient of the award, CSUEB and the other 82 recipients will be featured in INSIGHT Into Diversity’s November 2014 issue.

The HEED Award is the second major recognition Cal State East Bay has received for diversity in recent weeks. The Almanac of Higher Education’s 2013-14 rankings of four-year public universities recently ranked Cal State East Bay’s student body as the most diverse in the state, and the fifth most diverse in the nation.

“Cal State East Bay, the most diverse campus on the U.S. mainland, has focused on programs, curriculum, retention and graduation rates this past year,” said University Diversity Officer Dr. Dianne Rush Woods. “We have marvelous programs in place to ensure the success of the students who choose to attend our campus. These programs include those for veterans, first-generation students, various ethnic groups, LGBTQ students, and students with disabilities.”

 “We hope the HEED award serves as a way to honor those institutions of higher education that recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion as part of their everyday campus culture,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

“It is very much a part of who we are – of Cal State East Bay’s culture,” Rush Woods said. “In addition to our on-campus offerings, we work to support the surrounding community, providing training for those in local churches and outreach to specific school districts that need additional support. Our student service hours, more than 250,000 per year, demonstrate our commitment to grounding our students in applying theory and knowledge to real work with the East Bay community.”

Cal State East Bay was selected based on its exemplary diversity and inclusion initiatives and ability to embrace a broad definition of diversity, including gender, race, ethnicity, veterans, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ community.

Some of the innovative programs that helped Cal State East Bay earn the HEED award include:

  • The GANAS (Gaining Access ‘N Academic Success) program, designed for new community college transfer students. Open to all students, GANAS focuses on Latina/o culture and multicultural content. 
  • The Student Service Operation to Succeed, or Project SSOS, aimed at boosting admission accessibility and academic success for students of Asian American and Pacific Island backgrounds. 
  • The Hayward Promise Neighborhood partnership, designed to improve educational opportunities and services for the youth growing up in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood near Hayward. 
  • The Gateways Cradle to Career Education and Workforce Partnership, in which Cal State East Bay is teaming up with local businesses to improve math and science education with an eye toward improving student achievement and economic development in the region.

In addition to those programs, the university has implemented the African American Student Success Initiative and supports the work of the Diversity Center.  

 

For more information about the 2014 HEED award, visit .