Students and members of the community joined in a ceremonial dance of
the Piscataway Conoy Tribe of Southern Maryland during a previous event
sponsored by the College of Southern Maryland Institutional Equity and
Diversity Office at the La Plata Campus.

The College of Southern Maryland has received the 2015 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, CSM will be featured
along with 91 other recipients in the November 2015 issue of INSIGHT
Into Diversity magazine.

“This is a great honor as we have worked hard to ensure that CSM is a
welcoming place to work and get an education. We have become a leader in
providing programs and services that meet the needs of our diverse
community,” said CSM President Dr. Brad Gottfried.

“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 —
continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus
diversity and inclusion. We take a holistic 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 accomplished every day across a
campus,” said Lenore Pearlstein, INSIGHT Into Diversity’s publisher.


One of 11 community colleges in the nation to receive this designation,
CSM was only one of four higher education institutions within Maryland
awarded the HEED. CSM is a comprehensive tri-county regional community
college that fosters academic excellence and enhances lives in Southern
Maryland with the guiding principles of diversity, excellence,
innovation, integrity, knowledge, respect and teamwork. Recognized as a
leading practitioner in diversity and inclusion, CSM has previously
earned the Alliance for Workplace Excellence’s Diversity Champion
Award for creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive culture.

The college has created initiatives and programs, for example, such as
the Diversity Institute, which addresses pressing social issues that
face Southern Maryland as well as modeling how a community can address
diversity issues in a productive manner; a Men of Excellence mentoring
initiative to improve recruitment, retention, graduation and transfer
rates for African American males who enter CSM as first-time students;
and Choose Civility Southern Maryland, a community-wide campaign to
enhance respect, empathy, consideration and tolerance.

“Diversity is about ensuring that everyone has a voice and that
members of our community (students, faculty, staff and members of the
administration) feel like they matter and that they belong. The college
has taken a proactive approach to provide an open environment by
welcoming community partnerships, being a resource to employees at CSM
and creating a climate where the values of diversity and community are a
reality for all,” said CSM Associate Vice President for Institutional
Equity and Diversity Makeba Clay.

Through CSM’s Institutional Equity and Diversity Office, CSM provides
academic enrichment and celebrates diversity awareness through
programming for Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Native
American, African-American Heritage and Women’s History months, as
well as other cultural celebrations.

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine is the largest and oldest diversity
publication in higher education today and is known for its annual HEED
Award, the only award recognizing colleges and universities for
outstanding diversity and inclusion efforts across their campuses. In
addition to its online job board, INSIGHT Into Diversity presents
timely, thought-provoking news and feature stories on matters of
diversity and inclusion across higher education and beyond. Articles
include interviews with innovators and experts, as well as profiles of
best practices and exemplary programs. Readers will also discover career
opportunities that connect job seekers with institutions and businesses
that embrace a diverse and inclusive workforce. Current, archived and
digital issues of the magazine are available at
www.insightintodiversity.com.

Students from the St. Charles Children’s Learning Center at the
College of Southern Maryland, CSM students and members of the community
learned about the culture and history of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe of
Southern Maryland during a previous event sponsored by the College of
Southern Maryland Institutional Equity and Diversity Office at the La
Plata Campus.