Adelphi Receives Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award for Seventh Year in a Row

For the seventh consecutive year, INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine has recognized Adelphi University with its annual Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award.

Adelphi is among just 10 of approximately 200 universities in New York State to achieve this distinction.

This year, the HEED award recognizes a total of 114 U.S. colleges and universities demonstrating an outstanding commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB). Adelphi will be featured in the November/December 2024 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity.

"We are proud to have once again received the HEED recognition," said Sentwali Bakari, PhD, vice president for student affairs and DEIB at Adelphi. "This award reaffirms our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, which remains a University priority, driven by our strategic plan, Momentum 2. This year, our efforts have resulted in the most diverse first-year class in Adelphi's history, with a majority of students of color. I thank our exceptional students, faculty and staff for helping us to achieve the HEED recognition."

Some notable initiatives that helped Adelphi earn the 2024 HEED Award:

• The University's student success initiatives have helped the University eliminate the achievement gap traditionally seen in higher education, with students of color achieving an equal or greater retention rate than white students in consecutive years.
• Adelphi's campus diversity continues to rise, with 47 percent of students of color this fall-up from 44 percent last year.
• Earlier this year, Adelphi was ranked a top university for equality opportunity and LGBTQIA+ support by Equal Opportunity Magazine. Adelphi was one of only 20 universities in the country included.
• Adelphi was awarded a $2.49 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the largest ever received from the NSF by the University, designed to fund scholarships for high-achieving, Pell-eligible students from local high schools interested in majoring in STEM fields.
• For the second consecutive year, Adelphi has been recognized by Campus Pride as one of the 30 Best of the Best LGBTQ-Friendly Campuses in the United States.
• This year, Adelphi celebrated the 10th anniversary of its top-ranked Bridges to Adelphi program, one of the nation's first college programs for neurodivergent students.

"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 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."

For more information about the 2024 HEED Award, visit insightintodiversity.com. Learn more about DEIB efforts at Adelphi.