The college is the only one in New Jersey to receive the 2015 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award.
For the third time, INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education, has recognized Raritan Valley Community College for its outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The college is the only one in New Jersey to receive the 2015 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award.
As a recipient of the annual HEED Award, the college will be featured, along with 91 other recipients, in the November 2015 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. The college also received this honor in both 2014 and 2012.
"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 holistic 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 accomplished every day across a campus."
INSIGHT Into Diversity's representatives were especially impressed with two of RVCC's many diversity-related initiatives: the Paul Robeson Institute for Ethics, Leadership and Social Justice and the Institute for Holocaust & Genocide Studies.
The college's Robeson Institute was founded in 1999 to preserve Paul Robeson's legacy in the area where he came of age as an artist, athlete, orator, and scholar. The Robeson Institute offers educational workshops, seminars, and forums that train educators to integrate the history and contributions of African-Americans into the full educational curriculum as required by the New Jersey Amistad mandate, as well as the annual Paul Robeson Youth Achievement Awards honoring middle school and high school students.
Established in 2003, the Paul Robeson Resource Room at RVCC serves as a repository for educational materials, historical records, and memorabilia of Robeson's Somerville years and the worldwide accomplishments of people of African-American descent.
Since 1981, the Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies -- a collaboration between the College and the Jewish Federation of Somerset, Hunterdon & Warren Counties -- has offered educational programs for educators, students and the community to promote tolerance, understanding and compassion about the lessons learned from the Holocaust as well as genocides that continue today.
This includes "Learning Through Experience," a three-day program for middle and high school students. Established in 1999, the Holocaust Institute's Resource Center offers computers, books, a video collection, and other reference materials as well as classroom space. In 2015 the Holocaust Institute produced a documentary, Can Healing Occur: Building Bridges - Conversations with The Other? The film includes interviews and discussions with a Holocaust survivor, her adult daughter and her German nanny, and a man whose father was an SS officer. Topics include co-existence, reconciliation, and forgiveness.
Other diversity-related initiatives at the college include:
* Establishing the Office of Multicultural Affairs
* Hosting such activities as the CRECER program (sponsored by RVCC's Orgullo Latino Club) for Latino high school students, the Boys to Men Conference for African American high school students, and the Malcolm Bernard Historically Black Colleges and Universities Fair
* Presenting a variety of multicultural awareness programs focusing on such themes as Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian Pacific Islanders Month, LGBT, Black History Month, Women's History Month and MLK Day of Service
* Creating K-12 academic partnerships with underserved populations
* Involving students in service learning projects that teach them about diversity of thought, languages and backgrounds, helping them learn important cultural, economic, and social issues affecting the communities they serve, and seeing the world in a profoundly different way.
The college also was named to the 2013 Military Friendly Schools(r) list by Victory Media.
For more information about the 2015 HEED Award, visit www.insightintodiversity.com.
Raritan Valley Community College is located in Branchburg.