UIW School Receives National Award in Diversity

Feik School of Pharmacy Praised for Work in Inclusiveness

San Antonio – Oct. 2, 2020 – The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) Feik School of Pharmacy (FSOP) received the 2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the annual Health Professions HEED Award, a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion, FSOP will be featured, along with 45 other recipients, in the December 2020 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. 

“I am very proud of the school being selected for the 2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award,” says Dr. David Maize, dean of the Feik School of Pharmacy. “Our mission at the Feik School of Pharmacy is to advance healthcare in diverse populations. The first step in meeting that mission is to educate a diverse group of student pharmacists, and this award recognizes our efforts.”

Among its many accomplishments in the area of diversity and inclusion, the Feik School of Pharmacy graduated the largest number of Hispanic pharmacists in the continental US in 2018. For the 2019-2020 academic year, 76% of FSOP students are from a minority population and the school is home to the first student chapter nationwide of the National Hispanic Pharmacists Association.

In addition, FSOP has a two-course Spanish-language sequence built into the curriculum and required of all students. This will result in graduates being able to use basic patient counseling skills in Spanish to better serve patients.

“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 detailed 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 done every day across their campus.”

The Feik School of Pharmacy was just one of three pharmacy schools in the nation to receive the prestigious HEED Award.