Climate survey results presented
Posted by Mary Helen Stoltz
Based on the results of a campus climate survey administered last fall, the academic and work environment at Missouri University of Science and Technology is perceived as “comfortable” or “very comfortable” by 75 percent of respondents. But 18 percent of survey respondents report that they had experienced “exclusionary, intimidating, offensive and/or hostile conduct” during the previous year.
The survey results were presented to members of the Missouri S&T campus community during a town hall session on Thursday, Sept. 14, by representatives of Rankin and Associates, a consulting firm that conducted the survey and analysis for Missouri S&T, the University of Missouri System, and the other three UM campuses in Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis. Student, faculty, staff and administrative leaders from Missouri S&T were also on hand to discuss the survey results.
The town hall was held 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in St. Pat’s B of the Havener Center on campus.
Of the 1,522 students, faculty and staff who completed the survey last fall, 75 percent said they were either “very comfortable” or “comfortable” with the overall climate of the Missouri S&T campus. In addition, 70 percent of students said they felt valued by faculty in the classroom.
The findings “were consistent with those found in higher education institutions across the country,” Rankin & Associates said in its survey report, and “a slightly smaller percentage of respondents” than the national average “indicated that they personally had experienced exclusionary, intimidating, offensive and/or hostile conduct.”
The survey was conducted in the fall of 2016 to gather information to help guide decision making and policy development at Missouri S&T, the UM System and the other UM campuses.
According to the report, the findings “provide the Missouri S&T community with an opportunity to build upon its strengths and to develop deeper awareness of the challenges ahead,” said the Rankin & Associates report.
An executive summary of the report and slides from Rankin & Associates’ presentation are available online at climatesurvey.mst.edu. The full report will be posted on that website on Monday, Sept. 18.
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So, I am curious as to what policy development and decision making would be suggested by this. I read the entire report and it seems that in the areas of expressed negativity, the low response rate combined with the overall low response sample and a selection bias lend a pretty positive outlook for S&T, numbers considered. This should especially be true given the comparisons the report made to other studies. I would assume that this study ‘should’ suggest a further look into the specifics of the 18% negative response to determine its specific sources–in order to determine exacting response measures.