TiER1 Launches Diversity in Design Scholarship

Over the years, TiER1 has cultivated campus relationships with select schools to recruit and provide internships to talented students from a variety of programs. We identified an opportunity to help drive greater racial representation in the field of creative design, so we have taken the deliberate action of launching a Diversity in Design Scholarship. This scholarship, which includes a paid internship, is open to full-time Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) undergraduate students attending the University of Cincinnati and enrolled in the Design, Architecture, Art & Planning (DAAP) school. Why a Diversity in Design Scholarship?

• We believe this is a way for us to support the presence of more BIPOC professionals in creative design. There are significant racial disparities in the creative industry and young creatives often can’t afford to take on unpaid internships to gain experience. Representation matters and it’s a sound practice of inclusion.
• We have an opportunity to help fund a student’s education and provide a paid internship to help reduce barriers to their entry into this field.
• It is important that TiER1 increases our talent pipeline to include more racial and ethnically diverse professionals within our workplace. Diversity influences our innovation and performance.

We started with DAAP because of our rich relationships on campus due to the amount of engaged UC Bearcats alumni on staff at TiER1 who help ensure our recruitment efforts are a success. We will learn from this initial scholarship, engage other universities, and continue to offer scholarships to help address equity gaps. This is just the start. Thanks to our Organizational Development Team for leading this effort and our University of Cincinnati community partners for spreading the word. To learn more or apply for this scholarship and internship program, click here.