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For the 5th straight year St. Cloud State University has earned the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine for demonstrating an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
St. Cloud State is one of 83 colleges and universities to be honored with the HEED Award and is one of two colleges and universities in Minnesota to take home the honors.
More than 1,000 international students from more than 90 countries attend St. Cloud State. These students earn more than 850 academic and cultural sharing scholarships each year.
The fifth-annual national awards measure U.S. colleges and universities and their efforts of achievement and intensity of commitment in regard to broadening diversity and inclusion on campus through initiatives, programs, and outreach; student recruitment, retention, and completion; and hiring practices for faculty and staff.
“Earning this award is telling of the hard work that continues to be done in and around our campus community,” said St. Cloud State President Ashish Vaidya. “We remain steadfast in paving the path for inclusivity and diversity at all university and college campuses.”
The HEED Award process consists of a rigorous application that includes questions relating continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion, including enrollment.
“Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being accomplished every day across their campus,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
The University has demonstrated its commitment to diversity and inclusion by offering such services as:
- Center for International Studies
- LGBT Resource Center
- Multicultural Resource Center
- Prayer or reflections spaces
- Veterans Resource Center
- Women’s Center
