Rutgers School of Nursing has received the 2025 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award from Insight Into Academia magazine. The award is the only national honor recognizing U.S. health profession schools for their achievements in advancing excellence alongside inclusion and belonging. Institutions are selected through a rigorous national review process that examines admissions practices, student and faculty support, leadership engagement, and community partnerships.

This marks the fourth consecutive year Rutgers School of Nursing has earned the HEED Award. Rutgers is one of only 10 schools of nursing nationwide — and one of just 28 health profession schools overall — to be recognized in 2025. The winners will be featured in the October 2025 issue of Insight Into Academia.

“Receiving this award once again affirms our school’s ongoing commitment to fostering inclusion and belonging across nursing education, research, and practice,” said Angela Starkweather (PhD, ACNP-BC, FAAN, FAANP, FNAP), dean and professor of Rutgers School of Nursing. “Excellence in nursing requires us to prepare clinicians, scientists, and leaders who reflect the communities they serve and who advance health for all. These values are woven into every part of the student experience, faculty development, and community engagement. Thank you to each member of our School of Nursing for their support of these ideals.”

Lenore Pearlstein, co-publisher of Insight Into Academia magazine, said, “We take a detailed and holistic approach in determining who will be named a Health Professions 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 the campus.”

Sustained Record of Excellence

Rutgers School of Nursing is consistently recognized among the nation’s best. In addition to the HEED Award, the school has received the Best Schools for Men in Nursing Award for seven consecutive years from the American Association for Men in Nursing — underscoring its success in cultivating an environment where excellence, inclusion, and belonging go hand in hand.

Advancing Excellence Through Belonging

The school continues to strengthen initiatives that support student and faculty achievement, including:

• Impact Dialogue Circles, which give students, faculty, and staff a direct voice in shaping school culture and advancing excellence in learning.

• The Educational Opportunity Fund, uniquely chartered at Rutgers School of Nursing, provides academic and financial support to first-generation students to ensure their success.

• The Multicultural Nurse Leadership Institute, relaunched in 2025, which fosters leadership development and mentorship to help students excel.

• Robust programs to recruit, retain, and mentor faculty, ensuring academic excellence through diverse expertise and perspectives.

• The new Center for Health Equity and Systems Research, created to generate and share best practices that improve health care delivery and outcomes.

Rutgers nursing students also stand out nationally for their strong academic performance and broad representation across race, ethnicity, and gender, with student enrollment demographics that surpass national averages.

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