TCU is a recipient of the 2023 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. It is the sixth consecutive year TCU has earned the recognition.
“Our faculty, staff and students are incredibly committed to diversity – as is our administration – so this award affirms that dedication,” said Jonathan Benjamin Alvarado, chief inclusion officer. “Our inclusion efforts are one of the many ways that we celebrate a connected culture on this campus, and the resources and programs that support equity are highly regarded. We are delighted to receive this recognition for the sixth year.”
As a recipient of the annual HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges
and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion
— TCU will be featured, along with 108 other recipients, in the November/December
2023 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. 
“This award represents the work that numerous individuals and units are producing across campus,” said Aisha Torrey-Sawyer, director of diversity and inclusion initiatives. “This work is only successful if it is done collectively, and I’m so proud to say that is the case at TCU. I would like to especially thank Cheryl Taylor, our civil rights and Title IX case manager, for all of her time and work in collecting the information on the inclusion efforts at work throughout the various areas of our campus.”
The 2023 designation is in recognition of several areas of focus at TCU, including:
- Inclusive Excellence Scholarship: Forty students made up the first cohort of first-year and transfer students who will receive $10,000/year for four years. It is one of few scholarships that is stackable with an academic scholarship.
- Visita TCU: This campus visit program is specifically designed for Spanish-speaking families
with information sessions and tours led by Spanish-speakers.
- Inclusive Excellence Research Grants: These grants support participatory action research in either existing programs to
achieve equitable participation and success or in pilot projects or programs that
use evidence-based strategies to promote diversity, equity and inclusion among the
campus community.
- Certificate Initiative: The Office of Diversity and Inclusion developed a three-part certificate to engage the campus community in a conversation geared toward combatting racism in university settings.
- Inclusive Campus Events: Among many, the university’s largest Asian/Pacific American Heritage event to date – Asian in the World Classroom – spanned six days, 10 events and 700 attendees. During Black History Month, Bettina L. Love called on the TCU community to make sustainable change during her lecture, “Living a Hip Hop & Abolitionist Life: Resistance, Creativity, Hip Hop Civics Ed, Intersectionality, and Black Joy.”
“The 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 — leadership support for diversity, campus culture and climate, supplier diversity, and many other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”
For more information about the 2023 HEED Award, visit insightintodiversity.com.