Originally published September 18, 2020.

Old Dominion University has made quite the name for itself this summer. Just last week, the university was named one of the top schools in the southeastern United States by the Princeton Review. This is the fifth year in a row that the University has been ranked among 142 different universities in the southeast.

More recently, ODU was named one of the top 10 colleges nationally by the Time Higher Education Impact Rating 2020 in terms of addressing inequality. The Monarchs ranked ninth out of twelve US schools on the list, alongside UNC-Chapel Hill, MIT, and American University. ODU ranks highly when it comes to both racial and gender diversity. According to CollegeSimply.com, 58 percent of the university is made up of minorities or people of color.

Additionally, the same source supplied data that showed how women make up 29 percent more of the student population. The university scores high about the nationwide standard when it comes to diversity in all forms.

How is this being accomplished? Maybe it has to do with the leadership of the Universities President John R. Broderick, who was recently ranked as one of the top 500 leaders in Virginia, according to Virginia Business Newsletter. “Old Dominion University has a long and proud legacy of commitment to the principles of equality and equal opportunity for all students, faculty, and staff,” Broderick said in an interview with WAVY News.

Broderick has been at ODU for the past 12 years and is set to retire after the 2020-2021 school year. The search for his predecessor is still ongoing.

Old Dominion has an award called the John R. Broderick Diversity Champions Award, which recognizes those who work to maintain diversity and inclusion in the University. Faculty members, administrators, staff, students, and Hampton Roads residents can be nominated if they uphold “he inherent value of equity and diversity in the classroom, workplace, and community.”

In the Spring of 2020, there were nine recipients of the award, and the nominations for the 2021 year will open soon. Nominations can be placed by visiting ODU.edu/diversity-award.

The Univerisity strives to create an inclusive environment for every student, professor, administrator, and even anyone who comes to visit campus. The Inclusive Excellence Initiative is a task force established to push the school to become a more “consciously and deliberately inclusive institution.”

Additionally, Old Dominion University Libraries has a special collection in University Archives that features a timeline of monumental moments in diversity and inclusion at ODU dating back to 1930. This is accessible online at the ODU Libraries Digital Exhibits Database and is up to date as recently as July 2020.

“Over the last decade diversity has served as a driver for organizational excellence,” according to the university’s Framework for Diversity and Inclusion that contained a designed a plan to strengthen the Monarch community. While there is always room to grow and raise the standard on excellence, it appears that ODU is actively meeting these standards and creating new ones each day