University of Iowa
PAE-7: Measuring Campus Diversity Culture

The University monitors a wide variety of performance measures annually, many of which are shared in governance reports to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa (and elsewhere). In 2010-2016, these will include the indicators associated with the Board’s own strategic plan for 2010-2016. The University is developing a set of institutional indicators to supplement those measures and to help track progress in the priority areas the University has identified for 2010-2016. These indicators will include:

Measures reported in annual governance reports to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa include:

Enrollment of first-year, first time undergraduate students by resident/non-resident
Racial/ethnic minority student enrollment by residence as a percentage of resident, non-resident, and total enrollment
International student enrollment as a percentage of total enrollment
Enrollment of transfer students
One-year retention rate of new, direct-from-high school freshmen
One-year retention rate of racial/ethnic minority students
Four-year graduation rates of new, direct-from-high school freshmen
Six-year graduation rates of new, direct-from-high school freshmen
Racial/ethnic minority tenured/tenure-track faculty as a percentage of total tenured/tenure track faculty
Women tenured/tenure-track faculty as a percentage of total tenured/tenure-track faculty
Women in executive positions
Racial/ethnic minorities in executive positions
Racial/ethnic minority P&S staff as a percentage of total P&S staff
Total sponsored funding by fiscal year, in millions of dollars
Number of options and licenses of UI intellectual property
Faculty salaries as compared to peer institutions
Measure for contributions to health and well-being of state residents

For additional information regarding measuring campus diversity culture at the UI, please see: http://diversity.uiowa.edu/eod/reports-and-statistics#underrep

For more information regarding Renewing the Iowa Promise, please see:
http://president.uiowa.edu/files/president.uiowa.edu/files/RenewingTheIowaPromise.pdf

In addition, the UI Carver College of Medicine’s Strategic Plan for Increasing Diversity provides the structure of accountability under which departments measure and document their success in achieving these goals. Measurement tools include demographic data on faculty, staff, and student body composition as well as annual climate surveys and other qualitative instruments. A student climate survey was conducted in 2010 and results are in the process of being compiled and analyzed.

In Spring 2013, the Office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education conducted the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey, an initiative of the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California - Berkeley. UI is one of 15 members of the SERU Consortium. SERU seeks to broaden understanding of undergraduate experiences on campuses like the UI, and to promote a culture of institutional self-improvement.

The survey is administered online to all degree-seeking undergraduates. It provides an extensive overview of the student experience, gathering information on academic and community engagement, evaluation of the major (if applicable), overall satisfaction, and perceived campus climate for diversity. Because the survey asks students about their backgrounds, motivations, and perspectives, it provides additional insight into factors influencing student learning and development throughout their time at UI. For more information about SERU, please see: http://uc.uiowa.edu/about-survey

Also in 2013, the UI conducted a MAP-Works survey that includes approximately 160 questions that takes into account pre-college academic and family information, university data, and the student response to identify the likelihood of risk a student has in the areas of student engagement, academics, financing school, and transitioning to a new environment. The survey is administered to first-time, first-year students, and administrators received a 99.0% response rate.
• The student also receives information and resources based on their responses to different areas of campus that can help with some of the goals or responses they identified in their survey.
• The tool allows university administrators to collect specific responses from students who need help – but also provides rich aggregate data about the first-year class.
• As an addition to the required College Expectations course, campus partners will be able to get first-hand data from the students in their unit about their experience at the University of Iowa the first three to five weeks of the semester.
• This program will enhance the “it takes a village” approach to support students with resources or face to face support that the student identifies they need to succeed.

One of the chief foundational commitments of the UI is inclusion and internationalization.
Across the strategic focus areas, the University will continue to advance the core values and priorities of inclusion and internationalization. Domestic and global diversity are essential to excellence across all parts of the institutional mission.

Results of the assessments are used to determine progress toward institutional goals in the areas of
• Student success,
• Knowledge and practice,
• New frontiers in the arts, and
• Better futures for Iowans.