Using advanced methodology, we will conduct the first-ever Campus Climate Survey on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to help us understand faculty, staff and student perspectives and experiences related to work and study at the university. The resulting data will be used to assess the present campus climate, guide current and future decisions and provide a metric of accountability for change over time. Administered for the first time in 2016–2017, the climate survey will generate university- and unit-level data in a way that can be repeated to measure progress. The university-level sampling efforts will take place during Fall 2016, and census efforts will deploy beginning in Spring 2017 (staff) and continue in Fall 2017 (student and faculty). Data from the census efforts will be used to provide unit-level reports to the DEI planning units
Year Four Progress
Achievements in Year Four include archiving and release of university-level sampling climate survey data to units in order to provide a baseline against future progress in support of DEI. Building on efforts to provide university-level and unit-level climate survey data (instruments and reports can be viewed here), in Year Four we focused on assuring broader access. To this end, university-level sampling climate survey data was made available through public-use data files available for access by the general public via direct download from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR 37096) website or from the DEI website. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution. To date, there have been 4,492 climate data downloads representing 492 individual users from 43 institutions nationwide. These efforts were supported through an ongoing partnership among ODEI, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) and the independent research firm SoundRocket.
The unit-level climate reports for students, faculty and staff—based on results from the census deployments—are designed to equip the 50 planning units with actionable climate data as they advance their unit-based DEI plans.
In keeping with our commitment to collect data at the start and finish of the five-year strategic planning process, we will collect campuswide climate data in the coming year. Planning for these surveys is currently underway, with a faculty advisory group guiding the process. A Year Five sampling survey is scheduled to be fielded in Winter 2021, followed by Year Five census surveys of students, faculty and staff—for comparison with Year one data— in Fall 2022. This timing was adjusted due to the impact of COVID-19 to help achieve a strong response rate when surveys are launched.
Responsibility: Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion