South Texas College of Law Houston is one of only three law schools in the nation to receive the 2024 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from Insight Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity- focused publication in higher education.
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 — South Texas Law will be featured, along with 113 other recipients, in the November/December 2024 issue of Insight Into Diversity magazine.
“We are incredibly excited and honored to be selected as a HEED awardee this year,” said Donna M. Davis, JD, South Texas Law’s assistant dean of leadership and empowerment and Title IX coordinator. “Significant planning and hard work have gone into our efforts to support our diverse community, particularly through the Agosto Justice Center for Leadership and Empowerment. With our beautifully renovated new space, we plan to continue expanding our intentional efforts to connect, educate, and empower our students from every walk of life and background. Diversity in its broadest meaning is in our law school’s mission and woven into our DNA.”
South Texas Law provides workshops, mentoring, panel discussions, and lectures throughout the year to help students, faculty, staff, and alumni gain new perspectives, communicate and engage in healthy ways, and see the world through others’ eyes. Much of this work occurs through the Agosto Justice Center for Leadership and Empowerment, led by Davis.
“The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questionsrelating 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.”
The 2024 HEED law and graduate school recipients are Adler University, College of Business at Pacific University, Indiana University Indianapolis Graduate School, New York University Silver School of Social Work, South Texas College of Law Houston, UC Davis School of Law,
University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, and University of Maryland – The Graduate School.
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