College honored with national diversity award

Ohio State’s College of Public Health has received the 2022 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for demonstrating an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The award is given by INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the country’s oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. The magazine evaluated academic institutions on leadership support for diversity, recruitment and retention of students and employees, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion. This is the second year the college has been honored.

“I’m particularly proud of college faculty and staff for approaching the commitment to diversity as excellence — not just as programs we promote and attend, milestones we achieve, or values we champion, but a way we collectively strive to see, hear and interact day in and day out,” said Dean Amy Fairchild. 

“Even as we celebrate this honor, we must remember that this is a long-term commitment — part of the fabric of what makes us strong today and what will shape an even better future. We must sustain and expand upon the work we’ve already done,” she said. 

Jennifer Beard, assistant dean for strategic initiatives, said many factors contributed to the college’s honor this year. 

“One highlight in the past year has been the initiation of the dean’s administrative leadership team’s participation in Ohio State’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s new Inclusive Excellence Team Certification Program. The nine-month intensive learning and project development opportunity is designed to ensure that each participating faculty and staff member receives the same inclusive excellence education and tools to build a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace,” Beard said. 

The experience, which includes about 20 staff and faculty, culminates in a capstone project designed to advance the college’s goals around diversity, equity and inclusive excellence in the long term. 

Other Ohio State 2022 HEED award recipients include the College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Optometry and College of Veterinary Medicine. Ohio State is the only academic institution in the country to have five colleges honored with the Health Professions HEED award.