Swarthmore has been awarded the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for the eighth year in a row. The HEED Award is the only national award honoring U.S. colleges and universities for their outstanding commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across their campuses.

The award is granted by Insight Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. Insight Into Diversity evaluates colleges and universities for their on-campus initiatives, programs, outreach, student recruitment, retention, and hiring practices for faculty and staff.

The College’s DEI efforts have expanded with the hiring of its first Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion S. Brooke Vick.

The College’s emerging DEI priorities include:

• Conducting a campus climate survey to gather baseline data on our progress toward supporting a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community (coming March 2025)
• Increasing educational and professional development opportunities in cultural literacy and awareness as well as intergroup communication skills
• Improving our bias reporting and response process to support clear, transparent, and timely responses that support accountability and restoration when identity-based harm occurs
• Fostering community- and empathy-building opportunities through community dialogues

“Receiving the HEED award for the eighth year in a row is an impressive accomplishment that demonstrates the longevity and consistency of Swarthore's commitment to best practices that support a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community,” says Vick. “The people, programs, initiatives, expertise, and cultural norms that form the foundation of this work at Swarthmore are no accident, rather they are part of an intentional effort to live into our mission. And although it is our responsibility to always pay attention to and address those community goals of equity, welcome, and belonging that we have yet to meet for every member of our community, it is important to celebrate in moments like these. We should enjoy celebrating the hard-won progress we've made and those students, staff, and faculty who have worked hard to bring these changes into fruition, and let that recognition motivate us to energetically advance the work that lies ahead of us.”

Swarthmore’s DEI commitments and programs include the Textbook Affordability Program; Chester Community Fellowship; Philip Evans Scholars Program; veterans initiatives; Discover Swarthmore, Swarthmore Summer Scholars Program (S3P); Richard Rubin Scholar Mentor Program; the Office of Inclusive Excellence’s Community Conversations; the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s Lunch and Learns; and the food pantry partnership between the First-Generation, Low-Income (FLI) Student Council, the Office of Sustainability, and the Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC).