SDSU earns national diversity award for fourth straight year

San Diego State University has been recognized with the 2025 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from Insight Into Academia magazine. It marks the fourth consecutive year — and the ninth time since 2013 — that SDSU has earned the national honor.

The award celebrates U.S. colleges and universities demonstrating exceptional commitment to academic excellence, belonging and community-building. SDSU is one of just 61 institutions nationwide to receive the award this year, down from 114 in 2024, and will be featured in the October 2025 issue of the magazine.

“We take a detailed and somewhat holistic approach to reviewing each application in determining who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where academic excellence and belonging are woven into the work being done every day across their campus,” said Lenore Pearlstein, co-publisher of Insight Into Academia.

SDSU is designated by the U.S. Department of Education as both a Hispanic-Serving Institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI). Its mission and strategic plan identify diversity, equity and inclusion as a core value, with 25 specific initiatives tied to justice, diversity, equity and inclusion.

“Given the uncertainty of our current national environment, it is more important than ever to ensure we are supporting the well-being of every student and employee,” said Jennifer Imazeki, associate vice president for Faculty and Staff Diversity. “So this award is a wonderful recognition of the continued commitment of everyone at the SDSU to advance our Principles of Community.”

Over the past several years, SDSU has surpassed all systemwide goals set in 2016 by the California State University’s Graduation Initiative 2025. Expanded tutoring, advising and intervention programs have helped narrow equity gaps in graduation rates among underrepresented students. For the San Diego campus in spring 2024, an SDSU database reported six-year graduation rates of 78.9% for white students, 84.3% for Asian students, 84.6% for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, 72.4% for Hispanic/Latinx students, 69.4% for Black students, and 64.7% for Native American students.

Data submitted to Insight Into Academia show steady growth in representation. In 2024–25, 13.62% of full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty identified as Hispanic/Latino, up from 10.7% in 2020–21, and more than 5.1% identified as Black, compared with 4% four years earlier. Among non-tenure-track faculty, 5.46% are African American and 30.08% Hispanic/Latino. The university reports that more than half of new tenure-track faculty hired in recent years identify with historically underrepresented groups.

All tenure-track candidates must demonstrate a commitment to teaching, research and/or service with historically underrepresented groups. Search committees receive training on mitigating bias and include an equity advocate.

SDSU supports belonging through 10 community centers — including the Black Resource Center, Pride Center, Native Resource Center, and Women’s Resource Center — each offering academic support and retention programs. The university also has 19 Employee Resource Groups, such as the Latina Network, Men of Color Alliance, and Pride, Muslim and Disability ERGs.

SDSU also recruits students from historically underrepresented and first-generation backgrounds through community-college bridge programs, early outreach efforts and need-based scholarships.

For more information about the 2025 HEED Award, visit insightintoacademia.com.