Campus Climate study update
I would like to take the opportunity of this column to thank everyone – all students, faculty and staff – who took time to complete the 2007 Opinion Survey on Campus Climate.
We appreciate your frank and honest opinions and we anticipate that your perceptions of our environment will assist campus diversity offices in structuring programs and initiatives to better target barriers and challenges.
The response rate to the online survey instrument was better than in any of our previous climate studies. A total of 3,623 participants either completed or partially completed the survey. Of that total 3,530 completed and 93 partially completed the assessment.
Respondents Completed Partially Completed Students
Staff
Faculty
Thus, 19 percent of all students, 39 percent of all staff, and 32 percent of all faculty either completed or partially completed the online survey. Overall, 23 percent of the St. Thomas community responded to the 2007 Survey on Campus Climate compared to 12 to 15 percent overall mean response rates in 1995 and 2000. This is remarkable.
I look forward to continuing our partnership with Global Lead Management and Modern Survey as they pull together raw data from the quantitative online survey and develop useful reports to help us make sense of the responses. We expect to receive the findings in late June and will begin conversations about how this data will be managed and utilized by campus constituencies. There will be a series of discussions at all levels on input regarding the findings.
It is our hope to be able to begin in October the next stage: Phase II: Qualitative Assessment. Responses from the online survey will inform the focus group meetings and interviews that will take place during the qualitative assessment. Since there is at this point no pre-determined or pre-selected plan for going forward, Global Lead Management will work with the Office of Institutional Diversity to carefully determine the best methods by which to proceed. More information will be provided at a later date.
I would like to extend a heartfelt “thank-you” to the Office of Institutional Diversity, the University Diversity Advisory Council, the Diversity Work-Groups, Information Resources and Technologies, Library Services and everyone who assisted in planning, reviewing, consulting and implementing a successful online survey. Your dedication to creating a truly welcoming “campus climate” is nothing short of remarkable.
