The Ohio State University
PA-5: Assessing Diversity and Equity

Since 2008, the Office of Human Resources and Institutional Research & Planning have partnered in to administer surveys of all faculty and staff about their work environments. Each survey, including the most recent from 2014, is used to compare the responses across the years, which allows the Office of Human Resources to build on strengths and address opportunities for improvement as identified in the reports. Following the release of the overall institutional results, Senior Human Resource Professionals in each of the colleges and vice presidential units attend a workshop to review and discuss the results for their units. Each is given a report that compares their unit’s results to those of similar units in order to determine where to find best practices. Units with poor performance receive coaching from staff in the Office of Human Resources. The results are also used as part of academic program review and in deans’ and other leaders’ reviews.

Ohio State’s Undergraduate and Master's/Professional Graduation Survey have been administered at the end of each term by the Office of Student Life since 2011. These surveys are designed by several offices at the university, and are used to gather information about the career and education plans of potential graduates, as well as students’ satisfaction with Ohio State and permanent contact information. The most recent survey covers the combined results for the 2014-2015 academic year and includes demographic information about students who were invited to take the surveys, as well as the survey-takers. Highlights from the results found that over 85% of all students were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their experience at Ohio State. The Graduation Survey is administered, analyzed, and reported on at the end of each term by the Center for the Study of Student Life. The findings are then reported to the appropriate Dean of each college for their review, and the data are used to inform college-level decision making regarding curriculum and the student learning experience in the coming year.

The Office of Enrollment Services provides data each semester on the diversity of our students, including data on enrollment, retention and graduation rates by gender and ethnicity. Over the years, data on retention and graduation rates for minority students have prompted new programming to better support students at a higher risk of not completing college. Several of these datasets were used in the formation and implementation of a Student Retention Committee, charged with reviewing and making recommendations regarding the undergraduate retention at Ohio State. In this project, data were used to inform explicit recommendations about access and retention initiatives for students from underrepresented populations.

Ohio State’s Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity, Anti-Discrimination/Harassment policy, revised in October of 2015, outlines the university’s equal opportunity to all persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, transgender status, religion, national origin, age, disability, Protected Veteran Status, or other bases protected by applicable law. University policy prohibits harassment of applicants or employees related to these bases. The university’s Affirmative Action Program (AAP) assures equal employment opportunity in all policy decisions affecting recruitment, selection, assignment, promotion, training, and all other terms and conditions of employment. The university uses an audit and reporting system to measure the effectiveness of our AAPs. Additionally, all academic and service units are required report diversity of their faculty and staff across ranks, including hires and separations, and a description of plans to address recruitment and retention of faculty and staff.

The Ohio State University surveys its students, faculty, staff, and alumni on a regular basis. Faculty and staff surveys include items about institutional leadership, the respondents’ feelings of belonging and fit, and support provided to accomplish their work and personal goals. Results are analyzed by gender, race/ethnicity, position within the organization, as well as by academic or business department. Comparisons can be made to other units so that high performing units can share best practices. Student surveys, including the National Survey of Student Engagement, the AAU Climate Survey, and OSU’s own Graduate and Professional Student Survey, collect information on campus and program engagement, relationships with other students and with faculty, and support provided to accomplish personal goals. Alumni surveys provide information about post-graduation outcomes that can be analyzed by department and help us to understand the practices that support happy, successful lives for our graduates.

Survey instruments and institution level results reports can be found online at http://oaa.osu.edu/irp/reports.php.