The University of Illinois Chicago has received the 2020 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity, or HEED, Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
The magazine is the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education and recognizes U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
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UIC is one of 92 recipients featured in the November 2020 issue of the magazine. This is the fifth time UIC has earned this prestigious award.
The university received the award because of its continued dedication and leadership in fostering diversity, equity and inclusion on campus and in the classroom, said Amalia Pallares, associate chancellor and vice provost for diversity at UIC.
The university is both an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution, or AANAPISI, and a Hispanic-Serving Institution, or HSI, as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.
UIC is one of only 16 Research 1 HSI institutions in the country, and the majority of its undergraduates are eligible to receive federal Pell Grants.
“UIC’s growing diverse community enriches its urban campus, where students, faculty, and staff come together to create spaces of belonging, develop interdisciplinary communities of knowledge, and create cultural programming with an intersectional lens,” Pallares said.
Recently, UIC’s Latin@s Gaining Access to Networks for Advancement in Science Program, or L@s GANAS, was named a recipient of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine’s 2020 Inspiring programs in STEM award. It was chosen for its dedication and leadership in fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus and in the classroom and, in particular, by advancing the number of Latinx students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Several programs at UIC recognize the importance of cultural diversity in addition to L@s GANAS.
Most recently, UIC was awarded a $2.5 million National Science Foundation, or NSF, grant entitled “Monarchs and Milkweeds” to increase Latinx student participation in biology and chemistry; a $1 million NSF S-STEM grant that supports students from low-income households with scholarships to pursue engineering careers; a second $1 million NSF S-STEM grant focused on supporting new first-year and transfer students, and a fourth $500,000 NSF grant through the “Innovations in Graduate Education” program to increase the number of underrepresented students in graduate STEM programs.
In addition to these programs, several National Institutes of Health, or NIH, R25, T32, and other training grants foster greater support for diversity in the Biomedical Sciences. These grants involve collaboration across the campus and include the Office of Diversity, Graduate College, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Education and College of Engineering, as well as the health sciences colleges.
