OIX presents Campus Culture Survey results

Data collected from the initial UB Campus Culture Survey, characterized as a strong step forward in the university’s ongoing strategic efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion across campus, were presented to a group of faculty and staff on Tuesday.

The survey results were presented by Despina Stratigakos, vice provost for inclusive excellence, along with representatives of the assessment and education technology firm Skyfactor and Mark Coldren, associate vice president for human resources.

UB’s first Campus Culture Survey was created by Skyfactor, working in partnership with a committee of the Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIX) Leadership Council. The survey was designed to measure the inclusiveness of UB’s academic and campus environment.

Data was collected in two surveys: one for students in March, and another in April focusing on responses from faculty and staff.

“Among the highlights are strong statements from large majorities of both groups confirming that UB is, in fact, an inclusive community, with students from diverse backgrounds,” said Sherry Woosley, director of analytics and research for Skyfactor.

“Large majorities of students who responded to the survey — 79% — acknowledged interacting with students from different countries, and 86% said they have friends at the university who are diverse,” she said.

“An even larger majority of faculty and staff — 90% — responded positively to having friends at UB who are from different countries.”

Woosley told the group the faculty and staff response rate was 25%, and acknowledged that the student response rate, at 7%, was lower than the survey’s creators had sought.

“There isn’t any one factor we can point to as to why,” Woosley told the group. “We have seen the same thing happen with surveys of this type at many other colleges and universities,” she said.

“While not ideal, a lower response rate does not devalue the data that is collected.”

Stratigakos noted the survey “presents an opportunity for further conversations within the UB campus community. Better participation levels in future surveys of this type can be achieved through improved communication and coordination among students, faculty and staff together, to increase the level of awareness among all groups,” she said.

“We will review and iterate our communications mechanisms. The campus culture is one of the key factors that determines whether equity and inclusion are sustainable.”   

Other data revealed high levels of awareness of policies and procedures at UB focused on sexual harassment, and sexual assault prevention and response among both groups surveyed.

“The responses to these questions revealed a similar breakdown among students, and faculty and staff,” said Woosley, “with participants in both groups responding positively, in the 48% range.”

Audience members questioned if a separate breakdown, centered on the university’s three individual campuses, was done. Responding that it had not, Woosley acknowledged that a higher response rate, particularly among students, might have provided additional information and insights to produce a different set of percentages on these issues.

Stratigakos told the group that the surveys “were not a one-off step. Rather, they are part of a process.” She went on to outline what campus community members will be seeing in the coming months regarding the university’s equity and inclusion programs and initiatives.

“We are in the process of establishing a new position — unit diversity officers ­— within each school and area of UB,” she said.

“We are creating a new network that will help to bring out the differences among the schools, and target solutions to the needs for each, individually, and mutually for the university.

And town halls will be taking place across the campus to help with this,” she added.

Stratigakos also said UB will participate in PRODiG (Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion and Growth), a SUNY-wide initiative launched earlier this year to increase faculty diversity to better reflect the diversity of students across the system’s 64 campuses. PRODiG is the first of its kind, multi-faceted strategy at this scale, and includes campus hiring and retention programs, she said, with a goal of hiring 1,000 faculty members from underrepresented groups by 2030.

Guidelines have been issued to all campuses, and UB is an “enthusiastic supporter,” she noted.

Stratigakos told the group about another goal within UB: “Our priority is to expand our audience and our outreach to include communications across all groups within the university.

“We will be creating more forums — opportunities to talk with each other and to not have people talking at you,” she said.

““Faculty and staff responses to this survey, and future ones, can provide evidence-based data that can be used to assess the effectiveness of current strategies and plan new ones. Conversations between members of UB’s communities can provide valuable insights as well,” Stratigakos said.

“However, it is what we do with this information that will make a difference for all of us.”