New York Tech Receives Insight Into Academia’s 2025 HEED Award

New York Institute of Technology has received the 2025 Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award from Insight Into Academia magazine.

The HEED Award honors colleges and universities across the United States and Canada that demonstrate a strong, sustained commitment to academic excellence, belonging, and community-building across all levels of campus life. New York Tech will be recognized as one of 60 award-winning institutions in the magazine’s October 2025 issue.

“New York Institute of Technology is committed to fostering and sustaining a campus culture that ensures students from all backgrounds can succeed scholastically, socially, and professionally,” says Brian Harper, M.D., M.P.H., vice president for access and community engagement and chief medical officer. “This award underscores our dedication to cultivating a welcoming community where all can reach their full potential, and we are proud to be honored.”

Initiatives that contributed to New York Tech’s recognition include the Achieving Collegiate Excellence (ACE) academic support program and Peer Success Guide program, in which student mentors represent many diverse backgrounds; mental health resources for students and employees; Project H.E.A.R.T. (Health Education Advocacy Reflection and Training) at NYITCOM-Arkansas, which enables local high schoolers to explore healthcare careers and higher education options while learning about the urgent needs of the medically underserved Mississippi Delta region; and multiple initiatives aimed at positioning students for academic and personal success, including first-generation students, who make up nearly 30 percent of New York Tech’s student community. Examples include the Grizzly Cupboard, Student Emergency Fund, and Tech Threads career closet.

“We take a detailed and somewhat holistic approach to reviewing each application in determining who will be named a HEED Award recipient,” says Lenore Pearlstein, co-publisher of Insight Into Academia magazine (formerly Insight Into Diversity 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.”

In 2024, the College of Osteopathic Medicine was a Health Professions HEED Award recipient.