Rockland is one of six SUNY campuses – and only SUNY Community College – to receive the recognition.
ROCKLAND COUNTY, N.Y. (Sept. 22, 2025) — Rockland Community College (RCC) has received the 2025 Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Academia magazine, the nation’s oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.
The HEED Award is a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to academic excellence, belonging, and community building across all levels of campus life. RCC is one of 61 institutions to be featured in the October 2025 issue of INSIGHT Into Academia.
This marks the fifth consecutive year RCC has been named a HEED Award recipient.
“Receiving the HEED Award for the fifth consecutive year is a tremendous honor,” said Dr. William P. Mullaney, president of Rockland Community College. “It’s a testament to the dedication of our faculty, staff and students, and to our shared commitment to creating a campus where everyone feels valued, supported and empowered to succeed.”
“We take a detailed and somewhat holistic approach to reviewing each application in determining who will be named a 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 their campus”, says Lenore Pearlstein, Co-Publisher of Insight into Academia magazine
For more information about the 2025 HEED Award, visit https://insightintoacademia.com/.