Essex County College Earns Award For Diversity On Campus

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County College has received a 2024 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from Insight Into Diversity magazine, administrators reported earlier this month.

The annual HEED Award recognizes American colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. Essex County College was one of only 16 community colleges in the nation (and one of two colleges/universities from New Jersey) to earn the recognition.

Essex County College (ECC) has campuses in Newark and West Caldwell.

ECC administrators credited initiatives such as the development of a student Welcome Center, a redesign of the developmental education curriculum, and a “comprehensive expansion” of student wrap-around support services. In addition, the college formed its first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee last year.

The numbers show a success story, administrators said.

Over the past four years, graduation rates for first-time, full-time African American students rose from 10 percent to 17.8 percent. During the same four-year period, graduation rates for first-time, full-time Hispanic students more than doubled from 7.3 percent to 16.1 percent.

“Essex County College is the only community college in New Jersey bearing the distinction of being both a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) and a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI),” President Augustine Boakye said.

“I’m proud to say that diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of our mission and part of the fabric of who we are as an institution,” Boakye said.

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