UFCD’s Commitment to Diversity
In addition to its education, research, patient care and service missions, UFCD places great value on promoting and supporting a culture of dignity, respect, support and compassion fostered through a diverse and inclusive environment.
The College of Dentistry strives to cultivate a humanistic environment; a culture that values each individual, their beliefs and perspectives, while fostering a welcoming, respectful and healthy environment for all students, employees, patients, and visitors.
For the sixth consecutive year, the University of Florida College of Dentistry received a 2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity, or HEED, Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. The college is one of 45 Health Professions HEED Award winners this year and the only college at UF to ever earn the award.
“In the past year, our college has made tangible strides toward diversity and inclusion efforts, pledging to continue to do our part to heal racial divides in our community, to teach one another how to better understand different perspectives and experiences, and to discover ways to bring our community, nation and world closer through kindness and hope,” said Dean A. Isabel Garcia, D.D.S., M.P.H.
In addition to other actions, UFCD created the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access, or IDEA, Workgroup to ensure the continued cultivation of a model academic and environmental culture in which differences are invited, recognized, appreciated and valued.
“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,” 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.”
INSIGHT Into Diversity is the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the annual Health Professions HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — University of Florida College of Dentistry will be featured, along with 45 other recipients, in the December 2020 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
Additional recipients of the 2020 Health Professions HEED Award
- A.T. Still University
- California State University, Los Angeles
- Columbia University College of Dental Medicine
- Duke University School of Nursing
- Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Florida State University College of Medicine
- Frontier Nursing University
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
- Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine
- MGH Institute of Health Professions
- Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine
- School of Nursing University of Minnesota
- TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine
- Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
- Texas A&M University College of Dentistry
- The Medical University of South Carolina
- The Ohio State University College of Medicine
- The Ohio State University College of Nursing
- The Ohio State University College of Optometry
- The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine
- The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix
- Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine – New York
- UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
- University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health
- University of California Riverside School of Medicine
- University of Cincinnati College of Nursing
- University of Cincinnati James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy
- University of Cincinnati College of Allied Health Sciences
- University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine
- University of Louisville
- University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Nursing
- University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
- University of Michigan Medical School
- University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
- University of Rochester School of Nursing
- University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy
- University of the Incarnate Word Feik School of Pharmacy
- University of Virginia School of Medicine
- UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
- Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
- Weill Cornell Medicine
For more information about the 2020 Health Professions HEED Award, visit insightintodiversity.com.
About INSIGHT Into Diversity
INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine is the oldest and largest diversity publication in higher education today and is well-known for its annual Higher Education Excellence in Diversity, or 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 INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine are available online at insightintodiversity.com.