East Carolina University
IN-9: Diversity and Equity Recognition

East Carolina University has been named a 2022 Diversity Champion by INSIGHT into Diversity magazine for its focus on diversity and inclusiveness.

The magazine also recognized ECU with its Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for the 11th consecutive year.

As a 2022 Diversity Champion, ECU is one of a limited number of colleges and universities across the nation selected for “unyielding commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout their campus communities, across academic programs and at the highest administrative levels,” according to the magazine.

Diversity Champion institutions rank in the top tier of HEED Award recipients and set the standard for others striving for diversity and inclusion through the development of successful strategies and programs that serve as models of excellence. ECU is the only UNC System institution named as a 2022 Diversity Champion.

The HEED Award honors colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. The 2022 award winners were selected for initiatives that focus on all aspects of diversity including gender, race, ethnicity, veterans, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“We are pleased to be recognized with the HEED Award for the 11th straight year for ECU’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” Chancellor Philip Rogers said. “We continue to develop, implement and monitor institutional strategies as we enrich a diverse, inclusive and equity-minded campus.”

ECU has a variety of programs, centers, events and initiatives that focus on inclusion and diversity that were recognized. Some examples include the following:

- In November, ECU dedicated a new space outside the Main Campus Student Center to honor and recognize the region’s Indigenous communities. ECU also issued a land acknowledgment in honor of the eight state-recognized tribes that include the Coharie, Eastern Band of Cherokee, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi Band of Saponi, Sappony and Waccamaw-Siouan tribes.
- Rogers announced the Chancellor’s Commission on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It is designed to engage a broad set of constituencies across the university community — including students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, administrators, community members and trustees — in a collaborative and comprehensive effort in addressing issues of race, diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice.
- Efforts to recruit historically underrepresented and first-generation students included the first diversity student panel during Pirates Aboard, an event designed for students who have been admitted to the university. In recognition of ECU’s commitment to first-generation student success, the university was selected as a member of the 2021-22 First-gen Forward cohort by the Center for First-generation Student Success.
- The Partnerships for Diverse Graduate School Pathways Program develops mutually beneficial interinstitutional collaborations designed to provide undergraduate students at partnering institutions with informal and formal pathways to ECU’s graduate programs, with an emphasis on student success. Recent agreements with Fayetteville State University, a public historically Black university, and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, a minority serving institution, include development of opportunities for research, scholarship, public service and creative activities, and shared experiences for students, faculty and staff.

Data Source: Toya Jacobs, ECU Office of Equity and Diversity