CHICAGO—Today, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) 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.
The HEED Award is a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. This recognition reflects SAIC’s ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts across campus. The school’s Diversity Advisory Group (DAG)—formed in 2009—works toward an equitable, just environment where the voices of all students, faculty and staff are valued and respected. DAG’s 2015 initiatives to meet this commitment include:
- Campus programming, including a fall symposium with keynote lecturer Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., whose scholarship and commentary seeks to bridge the gap between cultural production and underrepresented voices through education.
- A spring exhibition, curated by Rashayla Marie Brown, Director of Student Affairs for Diversity and Inclusion, featuring students and alumni and celebrating SAIC’s longstanding relationship with the South Side Community Art Center.
- A DAG Curriculum Committee video project on classroom inclusivity. These videos feature community members discussing ways in which all individuals at the school are valued in the classroom.
As a recipient of the annual HEED Award, SAIC will be featured, along with 91 other recipients, in the November 2015 issue of INSIGHT into Diversity magazine. This is the second year SAIC has been named as a HEED Award recipient.
For more information about the 2015 HEED Award, visit www.insightintodiversity.com.
