Collection and Analysis of Institutional Data

Priority

Determine best practices in data collection about campus climate and individual experiences.  Create campus wide benchmarks for data and determine ways of gathering data through surveys; exit interviews and focus groups. Data should be collected that captures diversity along several dimensions, not only of race and ethnicity, including religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and ability.

Goal

Develop and institute a plan for the collection of consistent longitudinal data of faculty and staff around diversity issues on campus.  Implement an exit interview process for faculty, mirroring the current process for staff. This data is necessary for identifying problem areas for the campus generally and tracking progress over time, but also providing more detailed insight into what kinds of concerns might be pushing or pulling diverse faculty and staff away from Wheaton.

Recommended Strategies

  • Conduct a comprehensive climate survey on issues associated with diversity. The most recent survey was conducted in 2007. Resources should be secured for regular implementation of the standardized survey every 3-4 years.
  • Expand the current exit interview survey for staff to include questions that solicit feedback on the experience of staff from underrepresented groups and that identify challenges or obstacles to success and/or employee engagement.
  • Establish exit interview process for departing faculty to mirror that of the augmented staff exit interview process.
  • The creation and maintenance of an anonymous quantitative dataset derived from quantitative and qualitative information from faculty and staff exit interviews.
  • Develop a core set of data to track and monitor turnover, retention, and other employment-related data for faculty from underrepresented groups.
  • Develop a core set of data to track and monitor turnover, retention, and other employment-related data for staff from underrepresented groups. Accountability: Office of Institutional Research & Assessment, Chief Human Resources Officer.

Progress