UC Berkeley was this week recognized with a national award for its "outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion."
The Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award is given out annually by INSIGHT Into Diversity, the oldest and largest diversity magazine and website in higher education.
The award lauded many of Berkeley’s efforts to make the 154-year-old campus a place where everyone can thrive, including a major 2019 survey to understand the campus climate and programs like the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), which, for 55 years, has supported first-generation, low-income and underrepresented college students.
“This award recognizes the visible and invisible labor of so many people at UC Berkeley who dedicate so much of themselves for this campus to be a place where everyone — students, staff and faculty — can thrive,” said Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion Dania Matos. “From our commitments like the African American Initiative to the Latinx Thriving Initiative and our intentional design of others, we're striving to make Berkeley a place that centers belonging and justice. And while I celebrate this award — we've earned it! — I also know we still have work to do to transform our campus and our society. Our progress will continue.”
UC Berkeley, which was this week named the No.1 public university in the country, was the only University of California school to be recognized with a HEED award.
UC Berkeley’s leaders have consistently said they are committed to transforming the campus to be a place where everyone belongs and feels they can be their full, authentic selves as they attend classes, make their way across campus, and build their own communities.
Over the past few years, Berkeley has launched campus initiatives to spur and support the change we want to see through efforts including the African American Initiative (AAI), the Undergraduate Student Diversity Project, the Graduate Diversity Task Force, the Anti-Racist Campus Steering Committee, and, most recently, the Latinx Thriving Initiative.
These newer initiatives joined longer-standing groups like committees of students, staff and faculty that advise the chancellor on issues including Jewish student life, Muslim and Palestinian student life and physical accessibility to campus spaces for persons with disabilities. Chancellor Christ has also recently launched a Native American Advisory Council to advise her on critical issues impacting our Indegenious and Native campus communities.
To learn more about UC Berkeley’s transformative efforts, visit diversity.berkeley.edu.
