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Executive Summary: Michigan Technological University Climate Survey
In 1992 Michigan Tech conducted a climate survey aimed at understanding the concerns of women at Michigan Tech:
385 female faculty, staff, and students completed the survey. The survey’s final report (1994) provided a number of
recommendations that were implemented to improve the climate for both females and males. Related follow-up
included a set of recommendations from the Retention Task Force (1994) and the University’s diversity plan, the
Diversity Framework (2003). Both documents have provided guidance and initiated actions that significantly impacted
the Michigan Tech climate and sharpened its focus on diversity.
To continue this work, the University’s first institution-wide
Climate Study was initiated recently with the implementation of the Climate Survey. This extensive survey was designed
to elicit perspectives from all students, faculty, and staff on how they perceive and experience life and work at Michigan
Tech. The survey included questions that asked individuals to consider various aspects of diversity and how it has or
may impact them and their work. The results of this survey, and a review of the outcomes of the previous studies, provide
a comprehensive snapshot of our campus climate and culture. This ongoing Climate Study will assist Michigan Tech in
examining its programs, processes, and procedures to ensure that they meet the needs of an increasingly diverse University community.
The survey instrument was created with the assistance of a consultant from the University of Michigan Center for Research
on Teaching and Learning and input from various National Science Foundation ADVANCE campus offices. A variety of
methods and tools will be used to determine if progress is being made in response to the Climate Survey recommendations.
These tools include annual longitudinal review of numbers and diversity of faculty, students, and staff; ongoing focus groups;
formative evaluation of workshops and professional development activities designed to address issues identified by the
Climate Survey; use of other related survey responses as comparison; and, eventually, a follow-up to the Climate Survey.
Change in policies, procedures, language, and our physical spaces will be indicators of a more-inclusive environment.
Change in behavior related to inclusiveness will be the most significant measure. The outcome will be recruitment, retention,
teaching, and research practices that reflect a fully engaged, diverse community that supports our University mission and
strategic plan.
There are five categories of recommendations, with some recommendations overlapping more than one
category. The definition of diversity was of considerable concern for all groups of respondents. The recommendations
emphasize that Michigan Tech defines diversity in multiple ways. One definition is the identifiable or visual diversity such
as gender, ethnicity, race, and physical challenges. A broader definition includes less visually identifiable characteristics
such as gender identity and expression, religion, and economic background. Other forms of diversity also impact our
success as a teaching and research institution, including the degree programs that the University offers and the mix of
undergraduates, graduates, and nontraditional and traditional students. The recommendations emphasize the importance
of identifying diversity in all its forms as a core value that requires ongoing education, exposure, and recognition of the
value it brings to our enterprise.
In order to ensure that diversity is a core value at Michigan Tech, it is clear from survey responses that we must do a better
job of communicating this message through our language, publications, and other written messages. There is a
recommendation that the University Marketing and Communications staff lead this effort.
As we emphasize the need for
an inclusive climate, we must continue to create a more-diverse campus. Michigan Tech has many challenges in recruiting
and retaining students, faculty, and staff that are underrepresented in the University community; as well as critically absent
from some of the disciplines that are our strengths, engineering in particular. To contribute to a national need, we must
focus on recruitment and retention of diverse students, faculty, and staff. This requires innovative programs, new policies
and processes, and the creation of strong partnerships with schools, community colleges, and the local community. The
survey recommendations provide a number of strategies to accomplish this.
It is clear that there is a need and an interest
to increase the dialogue about and understanding of diversity and what constitutes a truly welcoming and inclusive climate.
The Climate Survey recommendations address many aspects of engaging students, faculty, and staff in this discussion
and in actions that will positively affect change for individuals and groups. They also emphasize the importance of diversity
to a healthy, robust university that values teaching, learning, and research.
The recommendations that are proposed in the category of work environment and space primarily offer strategies to
improve:
• the professional training that is available for supervisors
• the availability of space that encourages informal interactions
• awareness of the positive and negative messages that spaces can send to people
Finally, there are recommendations to involve and solicit support from the local community as an important component
in creating a welcoming environment.
The Climate Survey Report and Recommendations are available on the diversity
website (http://www.climatestudy.mtu.edu/pdf/finalreport.pdf) and will be widely distributed. Individuals, units, and selected
groups will be asked to work to accomplish these recommendations. Further study of subsets of responses will result in
additional recommendations. It will be the responsibility of the president, vice presidents, deans, chairs, directors, and the
special assistant to the president to evaluate and track progress over the next five years. Ongoing assessment may also
result in additional approaches. Many of the actions that need to be taken by units across campus should be reflected in
their diversity plans. The goal is that Michigan Tech will be recognized as a place where people are valued, diversity is
maximized, and members of our University and local community, state, and nation benefit from our efforts. Questions
concerning the Climate Survey and the ongoing Climate Study can be directed to Chris S. Anderson or your supervisor.
Through the 2007–08 academic year there will be many opportunities to continue involvement in this process.
Chris S. Anderson
Special Assistant to the President for Institutional Diversity
Overview
The University’s first Climate Study was initiated with the implementation of a campus-wide survey (December 2005).
“Climate” is defined as how the campus community perceives and experiences life and work. The Climate Survey also
focused on the recognition, understanding, and involvement by individual University community members in Michigan Tech’s
goal of being an inclusive, diverse community.
The Climate Survey, and twenty-three related focus groups that followed,
collected a significant amount of data from students, faculty, and staff. Reports derived from the survey focus group
respondents are candid and provide realistic perceptions of the University. The Climate Study Steering Committee
and consultants from the University of Michigan spent many hours assessing survey responses and focus group
summaries. For this report, both sources of feedback were studied to determine similarities and differences in responses
by specific demographic groups. The enthusiastic response to the survey (see below) called for immediate action.
The preliminary report was released in April 2006. The preliminary report provided initial recommendations for
implementation which are currently being addressed. This report expands on the preliminary report and provides
additional recommendations that address broad critical issues identified by each group surveyed—students, faculty,
and staff. Continued analysis of subgroup responses to the survey and of the focus groups will encourage a variety
of forums for discussion and result in additional actions. Finally, following the release of this report, regular updates
will be provided to the University community.
The implementation of the recommendations resulting from this survey
is critical to accomplishing our goal of being an inclusive institution. It is also necessary to sustain the campus-wide
interest in addressing Michigan Tech’s climate issues and ensuring that the Climate Study results in fundamental
beneficial changes in our culture.
Survey and Focus Group Participants
A total of 260 faculty, 3,077 students, 288 professional staff, and 143 hourly staff completed the Climate Survey.
The overall response rate for each group was greater than 40 percent. An analysis of the composition of each group
of respondents indicated they were demographically representative of the target populations within the University
community.
In addition, the response rates for various subsets of each group were compared to their percentages in
each group. For example, the percentage of male and female engineering students who responded was compared to
their actual percentages in the student population. The percentage of respondents from each college or school was
compared to the student population in each, and so on. In all cases examined, the response rates were representative
of the subset population for students, faculty, and staff on gender, ethnicity, national origin, Michigan residency, and other
characteristics.
Based on the issues and topics that emerged from the survey responses, twenty-three focus groups
were convened to explore these matters more fully. A standard protocol was used with each focus group; more than
150 individuals represented the following constituencies:
The remainder of the report will refer to the Climate Survey and focus group participants as “respondents.”
Categories of Recommendations
The issues most frequently identified by respondents as concerns or areas for
improvement to the campus climate were initially categorized into five general areas:
I. Definition of Diversity
II. University Communications
III. Recruitment and Retention
IV. Dialogue Training to Improve Campus Climate
V. Work Environment and Space
After a comprehensive review of the Climate Survey and focus group responses by the Climate
Study Steering Committee, no additional categories were added, and specific recommendations
were developed. This second report presents a more complete set of recommendations and
identifies the individuals or units that will have the responsibility of taking a leadership role to
implement each recommendation. The Addendum lists the recommendations in terms of the
financial commitment required to ensure their implementation and identifies the
recommendations, as of April 2006, that are already being addressed. As the responses of various
subgroups are examined more closely, and additional focus groups are conducted, other actions
will be recommended in follow-up reports.
I. Definition of Diversity
The Climate Survey results challenge us to define our various perspectives of diversity, which can
broadly apply to a range of human differences, including race, sex, age, sexual orientation and
gender identity, physical and cognitive ability, social class, religion, and culture. The University’s
strategic plan commits to attracting and supporting a world-class and diverse faculty, staff, and
student population, and to providing an outstanding work environment and support
opportunities for all members of the Michigan Tech community. This will require a sustained
commitment to increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of the University’s domestic students,
faculty, and staff and the percentage of females in disciplines in which they are underrepresented.
We must also recruit a healthy mix of international students and faculty.
• male tenured and tenure track faculty
• female tenured and tenure-track faculty
• nonengineering faculty
• domestic minority faculty and staff
• international faculty
• non-tenure-track faculty
• male professional staff
• female professional staff
• United Auto Workers (UAW) represented
hourly employees
• non-UAW represented hourly employees
• white male undergraduate students
• female undergraduate students
• domestic minority undergraduate students
• international undergraduate students
• undergraduate students living in residence
halls
• undergraduate students involved in Greek life
• domestic graduate students
• female graduate students
• students from Lower Michigan
• students from Upper Michigan
• gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT)
students
Concurrently, as the composition of the University community becomes more diverse, other
aspects of diversity must be addressed. For example, the Climate Survey results point to the
necessity for ensuring a safe and welcoming campus and community for gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender (GLBT) students, faculty, and staff; meeting the needs of first generation,
nontraditional, and economically disadvantaged students; increasing the numbers of students
enrolled across a wide range of disciplines; addressing issues related to the many different
religious or spiritual practices on our campus; and focusing on strategies to retain our diverse
students, faculty, and staff. Such elements of diversity will require attention if we continue to
build a truly inclusive culture at Michigan Tech that offers students the full benefits of diversity
and opportunities to gain critical multicultural skills for the global workforce.
A commitment to diversity must remain part of the institution’s strategic plan. A climate of
diversity requires that each individual contribute to this vision. As we encourage an active
involvement in the life of the University, it is especially important that we
• integrate diversity across the curriculum;
• foster a culture that values multiple perspectives; and
• create an environment in which all members can be successful.
While the University desires more ethnic, racial, and gender diversity in its students, staff, and
faculty, it also sees the diversity initiative as a learning imperative that includes people with a
variety of perspectives contributing to our education mission. Michigan Tech must ensure that all
University students, faculty, and staff are valued, experience a safe environment, and are engaged
in teaching and learning that recognize our diversity as a powerful resource. The president,
executive team, special assistant to the president, deans, department chairs, and directors must
clearly and consistently call attention to our efforts to achieve short- and long-term goals for
diversity and communicate that these efforts are essential to Michigan Tech’s vision of being a
premier research university of international stature.
Recommendations
• Develop a University diversity policy (often referred to as a diversity mission) that drives the
accomplishment of the University mission, strategic plan, Diversity Framework, and the
recommendations drawn from the ongoing climate analysis.
Lead Responsibility: President, Executive Team, Institutional Diversity
• Integrate diversity in all University functions, from fundraising efforts to faculty research,
program curricula, and even to landscaping and physical plant design.
Lead Responsibility: President, Executive Team, Institutional Diversity
• Regularly assess all academic and administrative units’ progress in meeting unit and
University diversity-related goals, and report results to the University community.
Lead Responsibility: Executive Team, Institutional Diversity, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors
• Utilize resources, e.g., books, training, or conferences, that address such issues as affirmative
action, strategies for recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, curricular development,
and legal issues to help campus leaders engage their units in this initiative.
Lead Responsibility: Executive Team, Institutional Diversity, Deans, Department Chairs,
Directors, Faculty
• Ensure that professional development programs and University policies and procedures address
issues related to students, faculty, and staff who are not in the majority, such as persons who
are nontraditional, international, GLBT, or part of a religious or ideological minority.
Lead Responsibility: Diversity Council, Executive Team, Institutional Diversity, Human Resources,
Deans
• Regularly publicize and educate the University community about the Michigan Tech
Harassment and Discrimination Policy and provide multiple ways to report and address
related issues.
Lead Responsibility: Affirmative Programs
• Continue to carefully expand the degree programs and interdisciplinary collaborations to
increase the diversity of thought and the diversity of faculty and students.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Deans, Department Chairs, Faculty
• Support diversity-related curricular reform through workshops and other professional
development opportunities for faculty.
Lead Responsibility: Diversity Council, Provost, Institutional Diversity, Center for Teaching,
Learning, and Faculty Development.
II. University Communications
Respondents believe that the University’s commitment to diversity needs to be frequently and
publicly articulated. Critical to achieving this goal is the role played by staff and administrators
who generate Michigan Tech’s internal and external communications. All communications must
reflect the importance and seriousness of the initiative, and provide clear, consistent statements
about the changes the University undertakes to achieve diversity, the value of diversity for all
constituents, and how this commitment helps fulfill Michigan Tech’s mission. The University’s
websites, brochures, magazines, and other communications should be used to describe and
demonstrate integration of diverse perspectives into the University culture. Tech Today, the Lode,
and the Michigan Tech Magazine, as well as local, regional, and national press releases, should
subtly and sometimes boldly illustrate our increasingly diverse and inclusive campus. Our
expectations that these efforts will significantly improve the education provided to all students
and will enhance the creativity, opportunity, and productivity of the University’s research
environment must be clearly articulated.
University Marketing and Communications staff, working closely with the president, executive
team, special assistant for institutional diversity, the deans and chairs, the Lode, and external
media, will lead this endeavor.
Recommendations
• Use inclusive language in all University communications, including applications and forms.
Lead Responsibility: University Marketing and Communications, Individual Units
• Include a set of strategies in the University Marketing and Communications’ strategic plan
that addresses its role in the University’s diversity initiative. Staff members assigned to this
effort will be expected to actively seek out related story lines.
Lead Responsibility: University Marketing and Communications
• Continue to schedule regular participation in diversity workshops and other professional
development by Marketing and Communications staff to support their ability to successfully
lead this effort.
Lead Responsibility: University Marketing and Communications
III. Recruitment and Retention
Respondents are emphatic about the critical need for greater numbers of female and domestic
minority students, faculty, and staff. A majority of survey respondents agree that it is appropriate
and necessary for Michigan Tech to actively recruit women and racial and ethnic minorities and
to provide personal and program support for students, faculty, and staff.
Recommendations
Hiring Faculty and Staff
• Take advantage of the large turnover due to upcoming faculty retirements to develop and
implement strong recruitment and search process plans for faculty diversity.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, AQIP, Deans, Department Chairs, Institutional Diversity
• Develop a process in which faculty and administrative hiring is coordinated, i.e., search
teams are trained, hiring pools are diverse, and issues such as dual hires are addressed. Nondiverse
pools should not be permitted to proceed unless the search committee can
demonstrate that it has made significant efforts to attract a broad pool of candidates.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, AQIP, Deans, Department Chairs
• Place a priority on hiring diverse individuals in critical, nonacademic areas such as advising,
student life, counseling, and public safety.
Lead Responsibility: President, Vice Presidents, Directors
• Grow our own faculty by partnering with other universities to provide a postdoc exchange
program for potential Michigan Tech faculty.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Deans, Department Chairs
• Develop and implement dual career strategies such as a job pool with other local employers
(hospitals, Finlandia University, etc.) to assist with partner hires and relocation efforts.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Human Resources
• Carefully review all recruitment, screening, and selection processes for potential faculty and
graduate student positions to ensure a holistic review of each candidate.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Deans
Recruitment and Retention of Students
• Continue to identify barriers to, and take advantage of opportunities for, recruitment and
retention of underrepresented students, faculty, and staff.
Lead Responsibility: All, Educational Opportunity, Enrollment Management, Academic Units
• Continue to develop and refine recruitment strategies that attract diverse students who bring
unique perspectives to Michigan Tech. Encourage a holistic view of admissions; for example,
add a short essay question to both the graduate and undergraduate applications, such as,
Through your life experiences and background, what unique perspectives and contributions will
you bring to the University community?
Lead Responsibility: Enrollment Services, Vice President for Student Affairs
• Use the Admissions selection process to build a broadly diverse student body that will
contribute to the intellectual development of all.
Lead Responsibility: Enrollment Services, Vice President for Student Affairs
• Ensure that all new programs (e.g. Enterprises and institutes) establish a process to recruit
diverse participants.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Faculty, Program Directors
• Ensure that professional support organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers
(NSBE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the American Indian
Science and Engineering Society (AISES), the Society of Women in Engineering (SWE), and
others that serve as anchors for underrepresented students maintain an adequate level of
staff mentorship, funding, and programming.
Lead Responsibility: Educational Opportunity, Deans, Vice President for Student Affairs
• Build strong Cass Tech–like relationships with additional target high schools by using a
multi-pronged approach (e.g., Riverside in Milwaukee; and Architecture, Construction, and
Engineering Charter School in Chicago), to recruit students.
Lead Responsibility: Institutional Diversity, Educational Opportunity, Admissions
• Aggressively recruit precollege Youth Programs alumni.
Lead Responsibility: Admissions
Financial and Institutional Support
• Ensure that the diversity initiative is one of the categories in Michigan Tech’s capital campaign.
Lead Responsibility: Executive Team, Institutional Diversity, Advancement
• Provide appropriate financial support and rewards to those who are successful in building on
the University’s current outreach partnerships and academic support programs.
Lead Responsibility: Executive Team, Deans, Directors
• Provide appropriate financial support for student success programs that meet the personal,
professional, and academic assistance needs of all students.
Lead Responsibility: Executive Team, Deans, Directors
• Provide financial incentives for academic departments that require a diverse candidate pool for all
of their open positions and which actively seek out potential diverse faculty candidates. When
exceptional candidates are identified, it is imperative that an academic unit, with the assistance of
the dean and provost, has opportunities to hire even if no positions are currently open in that unit.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Deans
• Budget adequate funds for recruitment of diverse undergraduates.
Lead Responsibility: Vice President for Student Affairs, Enrollment Services
• Budget adequate funds for recruitment of graduate students from institutions with a large
percentage of female and/or domestic minority undergraduate students.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Deans, Department Chairs
• Provide a pool of money for visits and scholarships to ensure sustained recruitment of
graduate students through professional organizations like NSBE, SHPE, AISES, and the
Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) as
well as Historically Black Universities and Colleges (HBCU), the Hispanic Association of
Colleges and Universities (HACU), and Puerto Rican and Mexican universities.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Deans, Department Chairs
• Identify and hire a GLBT staff advocate and provide an appropriate SS&E budget.
Lead Responsibility: Vice President for Student Affairs, Educational Opportunity
• Budget adequate funds to help address dual career partner issues as effectively and
efficiently as possible.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Executive Team
• Identify individuals in every department/unit who will have diversity responsibilities, and
specifically add this to job descriptions. Convene these individuals as an internal advisory
and implementation group or diversity council for the special assistant and president.
Lead Responsibility: President, Institutional Diversity, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors
IV. Dialogue and Training to Improve Campus Climate
The Climate Survey and focus group results indicate that a significant number of staff feel
undervalued by their supervisors and by faculty. The manner in which staff members interact
with students plays a major role in the way our students feel about Michigan Tech and in student
retention. It is important that the University include all staff in our mission, valuing their
knowledge and skills to improve our campus climate. Creating an environment of respect and
inclusion will improve the climate for both staff and students.
Hourly employees indicate that they often feel removed from the University’s diversity initiatives.
Faculty and professional staff responses show that they support a diversity initiative; however, a
large percentage were not certain how they could contribute.
Students, faculty, and staff indicate that the University’s diversity initiative is not shared or
taught consistently.
Recommendations
Building an Inclusive Environment
• Require training for middle managers, directors, and department chairs regarding diversity
awareness, sensitivity topics, and improved communication.
Lead Responsibility: President, Executive Team, Institutional Diversity
• Establish specific expectations for middle managers, directors, and department chairs related
to supervision, mentoring, communication, harassment and discrimination, and other
human development responsibilities for position performance reviews.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Institutional Diversity, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors
• Include diversity awareness, intercultural skills, and/or the value of diverse life experiences in all
job descriptions at Michigan Tech.
Lead Responsibility: Human Resources
• Formulate and implement a plan to provide opportunities for more-frequent communication
with, and training related to diversity for, hourly employees.
Lead Responsibility: Institutional Diversity, Human Resources, Unions
• Work with Human Resources and union representatives to identify ways to use attendance
at campus diversity events and programs as part of a staff professional development plan.
Lead Responsibility: Institutional Diversity, Human Resources, Unions
• Cultivate the essential value and need for intercultural skills to all students through course
work, campus speakers, communications pieces, and classroom management.
Lead Responsibility: Writing Centers, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Faculty Development,
General Education, Institutional Diversity, Educational Opportunity, Faculty
• Support underrepresented students who do not experience a critical mass environment by
providing social and learning experiences through collaborative programs and functions with
other institutions in the state or region.
Lead Responsibility: Student Life, Educational Opportunity
Orientations
• Ensure that all orientation messages to new students, faculty, and staff integrate diversity as
an essential component.
Lead Responsibility: Student Life, Vice President for Student Affairs, Educational Opportunity
• Send a clear message from the president about the intellectual, professional, and personal
benefits of building diversity and cultural competencies. Emphasize the University’s
expectations for student learning and behavior in regard to respect, tolerance, and diversity.
Lead Responsibility: President
• Continue to integrate diversity-related topics into new student orientation sessions and
ongoing programming conducted by COMPASS.
Lead Responsibility: Vice President for Student Affairs, Student Life, Educational Opportunity
Engaging Students
• Assign additional diversity-related responsibilities to resident assistants, and provide training
to help them promote informal interaction and discussion on diversity topics.
Lead Responsibility: Student Life
• Provide a variety of structured formats through University administrative and academic
departments in which students can positively engage in dialogue about diversity issues.
Lead Responsibility: Vice President for Student Affairs, Educational Opportunity, Student Life,
Institutional Diversity, Department Chairs, Faculty
• Identify additional opportunities to engage students in activities related to diversity.
Lead Responsibility: Student Affairs, Academic Affairs
• Encourage Martin Luther King Jr. Day diversity activities to be initiated by academic and student
affairs units and by student clubs and organizations. Promote these activities campus wide.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Institutional Diversity, Vice President for Student Affairs
• Encourage Undergraduate Student Government and Student Life to set aside student
organization funds for events that would require inter-organizational involvement and/or
sponsorship of cross-cultural or diversity programming.
Lead Responsibility: Institutional Diversity, Vice President for Student Affairs, USG, GSC
• Create opportunities to build diversity elements into all events and programming for
students, e.g., add a diversity-related question/s to the Summer Reading program discussion.
Lead Responsibility: Student Affairs
Engaging the University
• Provide ally training for greater numbers of students, faculty, and staff in the University
community, and build a climate that demonstrates an appreciation for all groups and
individuals.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Institutional Diversity, Vice President for Student Affairs,
Educational Opportunity
• Create a President’s Institutional Diversity Award.
Lead Responsibility: President, Institutional Diversity
• Add contributions to the University diversity initiatives as part of all employees’ annual
reviews.
Lead Responsibility: Executive Team, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Human Resources
• Add a section in the faculty vita update that includes efforts undertaken to support the
University’s diversity initiatives.
Lead Responsibility: Provost
• As part of an effort to understand how to create a more-inclusive environment, foster a
closer examination of positions and identities of social privilege such as being white, male,
and/or a US citizen through specific dialogues and programming.
Lead Responsibility: Affirmative Programs, Institutional Diversity, Educational Opportunity
• Ensure regular opportunities for faculty to be engaged in topics such as creating and
facilitating effective student teams, improving communication skills in the classroom,
nurturing an inclusive classroom environment, and integrating international and domestic
diversity issues across the curriculum. The provost and the Center for Teaching, Learning,
and Faculty Development should play leadership roles in this effort.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Faculty Development,
Institutional Diversity
• Establish a competitive grant fund to support faculty who would like to address critical
areas, such as the integration of diversity components in curriculum, intercultural
communication, team building, and reconfiguration of a more-diverse classroom.
Lead Responsibility: Provost, Deans
These actions will increase awareness, overcome misperceptions, enhance relevance, and provide
a richer learning environment and higher level of excellence for all.
V. Work Environment and Space
The need for increased opportunities for dialogue and interactions with others across campus is a
clear message from each group of respondents. These kinds of informal gatherings often lead to
more-productive work relationships and the appreciation of diversity. Respondents indicated that
there are too few welcoming places on campus where people can meet in an informal, social
atmosphere to share their work and get to know others.
Students also indicated a need for space to socialize as well as to undertake course work that
requires collaboration. They stated a need for an environment that offers a variety of venues in
which to exchange ideas about broad topics related to diversity and climate.
The majority of staff supports gender, racial, and ethnic diversity efforts, but a large percentage of
respondents, especially from the hourly staff, focused on the more immediate work environment
and their feelings of lack of respect and lack of empowerment to contribute.
Finally, the extent to which the local community accepts Michigan Tech’s diversity initiative will
impact our success. Businesses, religious organizations, schools, and civic groups that are
welcoming of students, faculty, and staff from many different backgrounds will influence their
decisions to come here and to stay.
Recommendations
• Form a committee on public art and spaces to examine the physical and symbolic
representations of diversity across campus. Implement changes to highlight a diverse campus
and plan gathering spaces to encourage informal interactions.
Lead Responsibility: Vice President for Administration, Institutional Diversity
• Charge the Student Commission to work with the director of campus facilities operations to
identify campus spaces that invite informal interactions. Inform students and faculty about
what is already available, and work with Campus Facilities to develop new spaces to help
address space concerns.
Lead Responsibility: Vice President for Student Affairs
• Establish regular focus groups with staff to discuss specific issues in their work environment
that are not currently being addressed.
Lead Responsibility: Institutional Diversity, Human Resources
• Encourage all faculty, staff, and graduate students to consider how their offices communicate
openness, sensitivity, and inclusivity for all visitors and colleagues through images, symbols,
celebrations, magazines, etc.
Lead Responsibility: All, Institutional Diversity
• Consider diversity issues when planning construction and building projects. Those issues
include facility design for auditory and visual impairments, restroom design (e.g., unisex
restrooms), and other structural adaptations required to reasonably accommodate a diverse
campus community.
Lead Responsibility: Dean of Students, Vice President for Administration
• Although not specifically referenced in the survey responses, the steering committee suggests
that the administration consider the establishment of a multicultural center, a visible place
that helps facilitate educational dialogue, presentations, informal discussions, and meetings;
displays or hosts art exhibits; and provides a gathering place for the University community.
Lead Responsibility: Executive Team, Educational Opportunity
• Invite the local community to participate in Michigan Tech’s diversity programs.
Lead Responsibility: President, Institutional Diversity, Educational Opportunity
• Tap into existing resources, such as the Community Reads project with the Portage Lake
District Library and/or a Study Circles community discussion project to enhance the climate
both on and off campus.
Lead Responsibility: Institutional Diversity, Educational Opportunity, Student Affairs
• Collaborate with the local community to engage them in efforts to enhance the local climate
for students, faculty, and staff.
Lead Responsibility: Institutional Diversity, Educational Opportunity, Student Affairs
• Work with the community to provide a greater variety of entertainment and events that
generate positive cultural learning experiences. Promote the local environment to students,
faculty, and staff.
Lead Responsibility: President, Institutional Diversity, All
Conclusion
The University’s strategic plan reflects the institution’s core values and encourages consistent and
persistent attention to its critical interests and goals. Diversity, as a significant contributor to the
vitality of University life and function, has to be an explicit and central component of the
University’s strategic plan.
Given the University’s strategic plan, the climate study provides the opportunity to examine our
collective and individual perspectives and behaviors and to identify problems and solutions
consistent with achieving Michigan Tech’s goals. We can and should take action to ensure that
our students, faculty, and staff are diverse and that the context in which they work is one that
supports treating all members of the campus community with respect and equity. The Climate
Survey and focus groups provide a baseline from which we can measure our progress toward
these goals.
The Climate Study Steering Committee recommends that annual focus groups be conducted to
assess progress in critical areas identified by the preliminary and summary reports. Annual
review and modification of unit and University diversity plans must be required and should
reflect ongoing analysis of the survey and focus group data. In addition, our successes, challenges,
and model efforts need to be communicated to the campus community.
Michigan Tech’s vision to be a premier research university of international stature requires an
open and inclusive climate, which is best achieved when its students, faculty, and staff reflect
different races, ethnicities, genders, ages, scholarly pursuits, points of view, and ways of life. Such
a university attracts the best and brightest who come from all walks of life and seek
environments where they will have the opportunity to thrive. Michigan Tech has many
challenges with respect to recruiting diverse students, faculty and staff. Some of the solutions
involve increased funding for hiring, scholarships, training, and space for engagement and
interaction. Other solutions are as simple as opening our minds to the possibilities and
opportunities to learn from others who are different from us and taking the time to interact in
meaningful ways. Such openness is a hallmark of an institution that is productive, vibrant, and
caring as it welcomes future development with confidence.
The Climate Study Steering Committee urges all students, faculty, and staff to regularly dedicate
some portion of their time to meeting and learning from others who offer new and different
perspectives. Only in this way can the recommendations in this report enable us to achieve an
open and inclusive climate which respects and fosters diversity.
RECOMMENDATIONS—by Category and Required Financial Commitment
(*Recommendations that are already being addressed are marked with an asterisk.)
Low to no Financial Commitment
I. Definition of Diversity
• Develop a University diversity policy (often referred to as a diversity mission) that drives the
accomplishment of the University mission, strategic plan, diversity framework, and the
recommendations drawn from the ongoing climate analysis.*
• Integrate diversity in all University functions, from fundraising efforts to faculty research,
program curricula, and even to landscaping and physical plant design.
• Regularly assess all academic and administrative units’ progress in meeting unit and
University diversity-related goals and report results to the University community.*
• Ensure that professional development programs and University policies and procedures
address issues related to students, faculty, and staff who are not in the majority, such as
persons who are nontraditional, international, GLBT, or part of a religious or ideological
minority.*
• Regularly publicize and educate the University community about the Michigan Tech
Harassment and Discrimination Policy and provide multiple ways to report and address
related issues.*
II. University Communications
• Use inclusive language in all University communications, including applications and forms.
• Include a set of strategies in the University Marketing and Communications’ strategic plan
that addresses its role in the University’s diversity initiative. Staff members assigned to this
effort will be expected to actively seek out related story lines.
• Continue to schedule regular participation in diversity workshops and other professional
development by Marketing and Communications staff to support their ability to successfully
lead this effort.
III. Recruitment and Retention
Recruitment and Retention of Students
• Ensure that all new programs (e.g., Enterprises, institutes) establish a process to recruit
diverse participants.
• Aggressively recruit precollege Youth Programs alumni.*
• Continue to develop and refine recruitment strategies that attract diverse students who bring
unique perspectives to Michigan Tech. Encourage a holistic view of admissions; add a short
essay question to both the graduate and undergraduate applications, such as, Through your
life experiences and background, what unique perspectives and contributions will you bring to the
University community?*
• Use the Admissions selection process to build a broadly diverse student body that will
contribute to the intellectual development of all.
Financial and Institutional Support
• Ensure that the diversity initiative is one of the categories in Michigan Tech’s capital
campaign.
IV. Dialogue and Training to Improve Campus Climate
Building an Inclusive Environment
• Establish specific expectations for middle managers, directors, and department chairs related
to supervision, mentoring, communication, harassment and discrimination, and other
human development responsibilities for position performance reviews.
• Include diversity awareness, intercultural skills, and/or the value of diverse life experiences in all
job descriptions at Michigan Tech.
• Work with Human Resources and union representatives to identify ways to use attendance
at campus diversity events and programs as part of a staff development plan.
Orientations
• Ensure that all orientation messages to new students, faculty, and staff include a diversity
reference.*
• Send a clear message from the president about the intellectual, professional, and personal
benefits of building diversity and cultural competencies. Include the University’s
expectations for student learning and behavior in regard to respect, tolerance, and diversity.
• Continue to integrate diversity-related topics into new student orientation sessions and
ongoing programming conducted by COMPASS.*
Engaging Students
• Assign additional diversity-related responsibilities to resident assistants, and provide training
to help them promote informal interaction and discussion on diversity topics.*
• Encourage Martin Luther King Jr. Day diversity activities to be initiated by academic and student
affairs units and by student clubs and organizations. Promote these activities campus wide.
• Create opportunities to build diversity elements into all events and programming for
students, e.g., add a diversity-related question/s to the Summer Reading program discussion.
• Identify additional opportunities to engage students in activities related to diversity.
Engaging the University
• Add a section in the faculty vita update that includes efforts undertaken to support the
University’s diversity initiatives.
• Add contributions to the University diversity initiatives as part of all employees’ annual
reviews.
• Provide ally training for greater numbers of students, faculty, and staff in the University
community and build a climate that demonstrates an appreciation for all groups and
individuals.*
• Create a President’s Institutional Diversity Award.
V. Work Environment and Space
• Form a committee on public art and spaces to examine the physical and symbolic
representations of diversity across campus. Implement changes to highlight a diverse campus
and plan gathering spaces to encourage informal interactions.
• Charge the Student Commission to work with the director of Campus Facilities Operations
to identify campus spaces that invite informal interactions. Inform students and faculty
about what is already available, and work with Campus Facilities to develop new spaces to
help address space concerns.*
• Establish regular focus groups with staff to discuss specific issues in their work environment
that are not currently being addressed.
• Encourage all faculty, staff, and graduate students to consider how their offices communicate
through images, symbols, celebrations, magazines, etc., about openness, sensitivity, and
inclusivity for all visitors and colleagues.
• Invite the local community to participate in Michigan Tech’s diversity programs.*
• Tap into existing resources, such as the Community Reads project with the Portage Lake
District Library and/or a Study Circles community discussion project, to enhance the climate
both on and off campus.
• Collaborate with the local community to engage them in efforts to enhance the local climate
for students, faculty, and staff.*
SOME FINANCIAL COMMITMENT
I. Definition of Diversity
• Utilize resources, e.g., books, training, or conferences, that address such issues as affirmative
action, strategies for recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, curricular development,
and legal issues to help campus leaders engage their units in this initiative.*
• Support diversity-related curricular reform through workshops and other professional
development opportunities for faculty.
III. Recruitment and Retention
Hiring Faculty and Staff
• Develop a process in which faculty and administrative hiring is coordinated i.e., search teams
are trained, hiring pools are diverse, and issues such as dual hires are addressed. Non-diverse
pools should not be permitted to proceed unless the search committee can demonstrate that
it has made significant efforts to attract a broad pool of candidates.*
• Place a priority on hiring diverse individuals in critical, nonacademic areas such as advising,
student life, counseling, and public safety.
• Carefully review all recruitment, screening, and selection processes for potential faculty and
graduate student positions to ensure a holistic review of each candidate.
• Take advantage of the large turnover due to upcoming faculty retirements to develop and
implement strong recruitment and search process plans for faculty diversity.
Recruitment and Retention of Students
• Continue to identify barriers to, and take advantage of opportunities for, recruitment and
retention of underrepresented students, faculty, and staff.*
• Ensure that professional support organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers
(NSBE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the American Indian
Science and Engineering Society (AISES), the Society of Women in Engineering (SWE), and
others that serve as anchors for underrepresented students, maintain an adequate level of
staff mentorship, funding, and programming.
• Build strong Cass Tech–like relationships with additional target high schools by using a
multi-pronged approach (e.g., Riverside in Milwaukee; and Architecture, Construction, and
Engineering Charter School in Chicago) to recruit students.
Financial and Institutional Support
• Identify individuals in every department/unit who will have diversity responsibilities and
specifically add this to job descriptions. Convene these individuals as an internal advisory
and implementation group or diversity council for the special assistant and president.
• Provide appropriate financial support for student success programs that meet the personal,
professional, and academic assistance needs of all students.
• Budget adequate funds for recruitment of diverse undergraduates.
• Budget adequate funds for recruitment of graduate students from institutions with a large
percentage of female and/or domestic minority undergraduate students.
• Identify and hire a GLBT staff advocate and provide an appropriate SS&E budget.
• Provide appropriate financial support and rewards to those who are successful in building on
the University’s current outreach partnerships and academic support programs.
• Provide a pool of money for visits and scholarships to ensure sustained recruitment of
graduate students through professional organizations like NSBE, SHPE, AISES, SACNAS,
HBCU, HACU, and Puerto Rican and Mexican universities.
IV. Dialogue and Training to Improve Campus Climate
Building an Inclusive Environment
• Formulate and implement a plan to provide opportunities for more frequent communication
with and training related to diversity for hourly employees.
• Require training for middle managers, directors, and department chairs regarding diversity
awareness, sensitivity topics, and improved communication.
• Cultivate the essential value and need for intercultural skills to all students through course
work, campus speakers, communications pieces, and classroom management.
• Support underrepresented students who do not experience a critical mass environment by
providing social and learning experiences through collaborative programs and functions with
other institutions in the state or region.
Engaging Students
• Encourage Undergraduate Student Government and Student Life to set aside student
organization funds for events that would require inter-organizational involvement and/or
sponsorship of cross-cultural or diversity programming.
• Provide a variety of structured formats through University administrative units and
academic departments in which students can positively engage in dialogue about diversity
issues.
Engaging the University
• As part of an effort to understand how to create a more-inclusive environment, foster a
closer examination of positions and identities of social privilege such as being white, male,
and/or a US citizen through specific dialogues and programming.
• Ensure regular opportunities for faculty to be engaged in topics such as creating and
facilitating effective student teams, improving communication skills in the classroom,
nurturing an inclusive classroom environment, and integrating international and domestic
diversity issues across the curriculum. The provost and the Center for Teaching, Learning,
and Faculty Development should play leadership roles in this effort.
• Establish a competitive grant fund to support faculty who would like to address critical
areas, such as integration of diversity components in curriculum, intercultural
communication, team building, and reconfiguration of a more-diverse classroom.
V. Work Environment and Space
• Consider diversity issues when planning construction and building projects. Those issues
include facility design for auditory and visual impairments, restroom design (e.g., unisex
restrooms), and other structural adaptations required to reasonably accommodate a diverse
campus community.
• Work with the community to provide a greater variety of entertainment and events that
generate positive cultural learning experiences. Promote the local environment to students
and faculty.
SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL COMMITMENT
I. Definition of Diversity
• Continue to carefully expand the degree programs and interdisciplinary collaborations to
increase the diversity of thought and the diversity of faculty and students.
III. Recruitment and Retention
Hiring Faculty and Staff
• Grow our own faculty by partnering with other universities to provide a postdoc exchange
program for potential Michigan Tech faculty.
• Develop and implement dual career strategies such as a job pool with other local employers
(hospitals, Finlandia University, etc.) to assist with partner hires and relocation efforts.
Financial and Institutional Support
• Budget adequate funds to address dual career partner issues as effectively and efficiently as
possible.
• Provide financial incentives for academic departments that require a diverse candidate pool
for all of their open positions and which actively seek out potential diverse faculty
candidates. When exceptional candidates are identified, it is imperative that an academic
unit, with the assistance of the dean and provost, has opportunities to hire even if no
positions are open in that unit.
V. Work Environment and Space
Although not specifically referenced in the survey responses, the steering committee suggests that
the administration consider the establishment of a multicultural center, a visible place that
facilitates educational dialogue, presentations, informal discussions, and meetings; hosts displays
or art exhibits; and provides a gathering place for the University community.
MEASURING PROGRESS
Baseline data will be identified and the following tools used to track, measure, and communicate
progress:
• growth in diversity of the faculty, students and staff
• retention rates
• graduation rates
• retention and satisfaction of faculty and staff
• focus group input
• implementation of Climate Survey recommendations
• continued research and actions using Climate Survey data
• annual review and updates of academic and administrative diversity plans
(http://www.diversity.mtu.edu)
• regular discussion of challenges and progress by executive team
• professional development opportunities related to diversity
• University Diversity Factsheet
• annual report to the campus
The special assistant will continue to monitor issues related to campus climate, work with
campus and other constituents to develop additional action plans as needed, and help coordinate
institution-wide programming and professional development for faculty, students, and staff.
For additional information contact:
Chris S. Anderson, Institutional Diversity
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