Loyola Nursing receives fourth HEED Award
By Ashley Rowland
Oct. 16, 2026
The Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing has received a national award in recognition of its commitment to inclusive excellence for the fourth year in a row.
The 2026 Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award for Health Professions Schools honors American health colleges and universities that demonstrate outstanding commitment to academic excellence, belonging, and community building across all levels of campus life. The award is given annually by Insight Into Academia magazine.
“We’re proud to receive the HEED Award, which recognizes our growing national leadership in inclusive excellence in nursing education,” said Moonju Lee, associate dean for inclusive excellence. “More importantly, this recognition reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring that every member of the Loyola Nursing community—students, staff, and faculty—is valued, respected, and empowered to thrive.”
Insight Into Academia uses a detailed scoring process and holistic approach in reviewing applicants for the HEED Award.
"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,” said Lenore Pearlstein, the magazine's co-publisher.
Loyola Nursing has long incorporated inclusive excellence in its curriculum, student recruitment, and hiring practices. In the past year, the school launched two new programs that expand on that commitment, Lee said, including the Ascend into Nursing Conway Summer Institute.
Ascend provides supplemental preparation to first- and second-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing students from Loyola's Arrupe College.
Most Ascend participants are first-generation college students. The immersion, first held in July 2026, incorporates evidence-based strategies to boost academic performance and help students develop a peer support network within the nursing program.
Ascend is part of the CARE (Collaboration, Access, Resources, and Excellence) Student Success Program, an outgrowth of an initiative started in 2021 with a federal nursing workforce diversity grant to support underrepresented students.
CARE—which aims to boost student retention and graduation rates—is being offered this year to all interested undergraduate nursing students. Both CARE and Ascend are supported by the Bedford Falls Foundation.
Meanwhile, Loyola Nursing's Rural Health Care Nursing Scholars Program (RHCNSP) provides specialized training for undergraduates in rural acute and long-term care. Launched with a $3.8 million Health Resources and Services Administration grant, RHCNSP includes immersion trips to rural areas, as well as supplemental workshops and learning outside the regular nursing curriculum.
Loyola Nursing hosted an invitational rural health conference in October to support faculty as they build the RHCNSP program.
Loyola Nursing has received several awards for promoting student belonging in recent years, including the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's 2024 Inclusive Excellence, Belonging, and Sustainability in Nursing Education Award.
The school was featured in the October issue of Insight Into Academia with 60 other HEED Award recipients.