School of Nursing Receives 6th Consecutive Excellence in Diversity Award

For the sixth year in a row, the University of Rochester School of Nursing has received the Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

The UR School of Nursing is among 64 health professions schools from around the country selected to receive the only national award recognizing medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing, osteopathic, and allied health schools that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The recipients will be featured in the December 2022 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

“Earning the HEED Award for a sixth year demonstrates the School of Nursing community’s commitment to embracing diversity, promoting equity, and fostering a sense of inclusiveness,” said Mitchell Wharton, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, CNS, the school’s associate dean for equity and inclusion. “Nurses play a fundamental role in achieving health equity. We are committed to helping nurses of all backgrounds advance their careers and creating a better educated, more culturally sensitive and attentive health care workforce that will be well-prepared to meet of an evolving healthcare landscape."

The UR School of Nursing, which has been at the forefront of diversity, inclusion, and equity issues for nearly two decades, is one of 16 nursing schools to receive the HEED Health Professions Award this year. Its academic programs attract scientists, clinicians, researchers, and future nurses of varying ages, backgrounds, and talents, and recent incoming classes have included students from across the U.S. and countries such as Ecuador, Rwanda, Iceland, and South Korea. About 30% of incoming students in Fall 2022 are from groups underrepresented in nursing, and 21% of incoming bachelor’s students are men, almost twice the percentage of men in the nursing workforce.

 “The Health Professions 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 — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a Health Professions HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for schools where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”

The past year has brought significant diversity and inclusion milestones at the School of Nursing. Earlier in the year, the UR Medicine Employee Wellness Center, which is housed at the School of Nursing, launched a collaborative program with the Jordan Health Initiative to provide an array of health and wellness services to the community, making preventative health care more accessible and improving health equity and literacy. Over the summer, several members of the school community earned recognition from the National Black Nurses Association and its Rochester chapter for their leadership, involvement in the community, and research focused on improving health among marginalized populations.

As part of its efforts to increase diversity in the nursing workforce and among faculty and students, the school has also continued to offer its Dean’s Diversity Scholarship program for accelerated bachelor’s students, and its post-doctoral fellow to tenure-track faculty program.

“We are proud that our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion has been recognized for six consecutive years,” said Lisa A. Kitko, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, dean of the School of Nursing.  “However, our work is not done. Inclusion is part of our guiding philosophy, and the School of Nursing remains committed to increasing diversity among faculty, staff, and students.”

The full list of recipients of the 2022 Health Professions HEED Award is below:

• T. Still University of Graduate Health Sciences
• Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
• California State University, Los Angeles
• Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth - Houston Texas
• Columbia University College of Dental Medicine
• Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
• Florida State University College of Medicine
• Frontier Nursing University
• Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON)
• Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine
• Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine
• MGH Institute of Health Professions
• Michigan Medicine University of Michigan Medical School
• New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing
• Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry
• Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences
• Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine
• School of Nursing, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
• Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (SVMBS)
• Texas A&M University Irma Lerma Rangel School of Pharmacy
• Texas Christian University School of Medicine
• The Medical College of Wisconsin
• The Medical University of South Carolina
• The Ohio State University College of Medicine
• The Ohio State University College of Nursing
• The Ohio State University College of Optometry
• The Ohio State University College of Public Health
• The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine
• The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix
• The University of North Carolina School of Medicine
• Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine New York
• UC Davis School of Medicine
• UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
• UNC-Greensboro School of Nursing
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)
• University of California Riverside School of Medicine
• University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
• University of California, Los Angeles, School of Nursing
• University of Cincinnati College of Nursing
• University of Cincinnati James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy
• University of Cincinnati, College of Allied Health Sciences
• University of Florida College of Dentistry
• University of Florida College of Pharmacy
• University of Houston College of Nursing
• University of Kentucky, College of Medicine, Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• University of Louisville
• University of Maryland, Baltimore - School of Nursing
• University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
• University of Minnesota School of Nursing
• University of Mississippi Medical Center
• University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine
• University of Rochester School of Nursing
• University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine
• University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston School of Dentistry (UTSD)
• University of Virginia School of Medicine
• University of Virginia School of Nursing
• University of Wisconsin-School of Nursing
• UT Southwestern Medical Center
• Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
• VCOM - Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
• Weill Cornell Medicine