UC College of Nursing receives fourth straight HEED award

The University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Nursing has received the 2018 INSIGHT Into Diversity Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award. This marks the fourth straight year the College of Nursing has been so honored.

As a recipient of the annual Health Professions HEED Award—a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities demonstrating an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion—the College of Nursing will be featured, along with 30 other recipients, in the December 2018 issue of the magazine.

"Our ultimate goal is to improve health care outcomes, reduce health disparities and increase the diversity in the health care workforce,” says Greer Glazer, PhD, dean of the UC College of Nursing. "As the only nursing college to receive this award four times, we are as committed as ever to leading the way in diversity and inclusion within nursing and health care education.”

The College of Nursing uses holistic admissions strategies that incorporate personal student characteristics and attributes to augment GPA and test scores for admissions decisions. The process values intellect, life experiences, motivation and character, which exemplify the core values of the College of Nursing. Candidates are selected using broad-based admission criteria to create a diverse student body.

In the previous academic year, the college implemented multiple mini interviews as part of its admissions strategies. Multiple mini interviews consist of a series of short, structured interview stations used to assess non-cognitive attributes important for professional success, including: ethics, self-awareness, diversity, self-directed learning, communication, collaboration, leadership, critical thinking and situational awareness. This large undertaking involved faculty, staff and community members as raters of over 200 applicants.

Admissions data show that using the holistic admissions process increased ethnicity/race and gender diversity, as well as first generation college offers. Of applicants who were accepted under the holistic admissions review process, 28 percent would not have received an offer had admissions decisions considered only quantitative data. The quality metrics for the college remained sound—the average GPA for admitted first-year students is 4.01, while the average ACT score is 26.

The College of Nursing also supports a wide variety of diversity and inclusion efforts outside of the admissions process. A Committee for Equity and Inclusive Excellence within the college sponsors several events throughout the year providing awareness and a platform for discussion among college faculty, staff, students and alumni. In addition, the college’s pipeline diversification efforts are represented by such programs as Leadership 2.0 and HealthPath Summer Bridge, which are designed to support underrepresented individuals throughout their education.

INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine is the largest and oldest diversity publication in higher education and is known for its annual HEED Award, the only award recognizing colleges and universities for outstanding diversity and inclusion efforts across their campuses. More information about the 2018 HEED Award can be found online at www.insightintodiversity.com.