By: Olivia Brown, NCAA Staff

INDIANAPOLIS - The 2025 Division III LGBTQ Institution of the Year recipient is the University of Massachusetts Boston, which was honored at the NCAA Convention in the Washington, D.C. area. 

The Division III LGBTQ of the Year Award Program, developed by the Division III LGBTQ Working Group, aims to celebrate the academic achievements, athletics excellence, service and leadership of LGBTQ student-athletes and the service, leadership and promotion of LGBTQ inclusion by athletics departments, administrators or coaches. 

The UMass Boston athletics department has invested in sustained efforts around LGBTQ+ inclusion. In 2023, the department created a position of director of community engagement and inclusive excellence, filled in 2023 by Tiffany Alford. Alford created an active Athlete Ally chapter and school Pride Games and has dedicated resources to sending student-athletes to the Athlete Ally Activism Summit and administrators to the NCAA's Common Ground program.

The athletics department also has an internal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee that consists of students, coaches, athletes and administrators to discuss issues and promote sustainable solutions. In recent years, the department has participated in implicit bias hiring training, with the goal of creating a more diverse and equitable department. The athletics department is also proud to have many LGBTQ employees, coaches, administrators and student-athletes and their many allies, who represent their community and offer support, both informal and formal, creating a culture of acceptance and inclusion.

"Our department has worked hard to create partnerships between our teams and other parts of the university to promote our shared goals of LGBTQ inclusion. The University of Massachusetts Boston athletics department is proud to create and support numerous programs and activities related to increasing cultural and practical competencies around LGBTQ inclusion within our department and the broader university," said Peter Federman, faculty athletics representative.