Drexel University Receives Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award for Its Culture of Belonging

This story was written by Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence & Academic Culture Leslie Ashburn-Nardo, PhD; Natalie Kostelni, associate director of partnership communications in the Office of the Vice Provost for Strategic Communications and Marketing; and Irene Tsikitas Lin, executive director of communications for the Office of the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer and Treasurer.

For the third consecutive year, Drexel University received Insight Into Academia's 2025 Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award, which recognizes U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to academic excellence, belonging and community-building across all levels of campus life. Drexel is the only Philadelphia-based institution to be recognized among the 61 other HEED Award recipients for 2025.

"We are honored to receive this recognition for the third consecutive year. The HEED Award is a reflection of the daily actions of our students, faculty and professional staff who, together, cultivate a culture of belonging at Drexel University," said Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence & Academic Culture Leslie Ashburn-Nardo, PhD. "Simultaneously, the award reminds us that the work is never finished; it requires an ongoing commitment to being a community where every member can thrive."

The award recognizes Drexel's longstanding institutional commitment to ensuring access and academic excellence for students from all backgrounds through programs and initiatives like the Center for Inclusive Education & Scholarship (CIES), the Center for Autism and Neurodiversity, Bennett S. LeBow College of Business and Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design BRIDGE programs, and the College of Engineering's DELTA Summer BRIDGE program, just to name a few. Drexel is currently building upon this commitment by transforming its academic structure and curriculum, and by ensuring greater consistency and equity in policies and practices for the benefit of students, faculty and professional staff.

CIES Executive Director Bernetta McCall-Millonde said she and her team consider it an "honor and a labor of love to provide our community of scholars academic support and relevant programming, and to foster a sense of belonging while validating their experiences in a nurturing environment." But the real testament to Drexel's culture of belonging is the positive feedback they receive regularly from students.

At the end of her first year at Drexel, Mariesha Carter, now a junior in the College of Nursing and Health Professions, wrote of her experience in the Dragons Prep program: "Each day provided me with valuable academic experiences and also introduced me to a community of wonderful friends and a dream team of advisors in CIES…. This experience has reaffirmed and deepened my commitment to choosing Drexel, not only as an educational path but as a community."

Completing the HEED Award's extensive application process was a collaborative effort among Drexel's Offices of Faculty Excellence & Academic Culture, Human Resources and Institutional Research, Assessment and Accreditation.

"We take a detailed and somewhat holistic approach to reviewing each application in determining who will be named a HEED Award recipient," said Lenore Pearlstein, co-publisher of Insight into Academia magazine. "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."

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