Climate Assessment
The UMN School of Public Health (SPH) is committed to creating a welcoming, equitable, and inclusive environment for its entire community. To gauge its progress toward that goal, SPH gathers information about the experiences of SPH staff, students, faculty, and alumni relative to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the overall learning and workplace climate. The primary method to get this feedback is an anonymous online survey, and community members also share their experiences in focus group discussions and interviews.
Below are findings from the school’s first two climate assessments, conducted in 2020 and 2022. In the intervening year, SPH launched its Strategic Plan for Antiracism, the roadmap that guides the school as it actively makes diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and antiracism central to its operations and mission.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does SPH do this?
To gain a deeper understanding of how SPH is doing as it pertains to diversity, equity, and inclusion through quantitative and qualitative measures.
What is the timing?
- September 25, 2024 – Survey distributed
- October 9, 2024 – Survey closes
- January 2025 – Focus group recruitment begins
- Spring 2025 – Survey and focus group results expected
Who is able to participate?
All students, faculty, staff and alumni will be invited to provide feedback either through the survey, focus groups or both.
When will the results be available?
We expect to publish our results on the SPH website in early 2025 and hold a community forum to discuss them further. This will include an executive summary, a full report, and visuals to support the data as in past years.
What does SPH do with the data?
We use the data to hold ourselves accountable and create better programming.
How is this assessment different from the University’s climate assessment? Should I complete both?
- The SPH survey is distinct from the UMN Systemwide Climate Assessment Survey, which will be distributed next in early 2025.
- We encourage you to complete both of these assessments. The SPH DEI team uses a comprehensive approach to assess and plan, which includes data from the University’s assessment.
- The systemwide climate survey only offers results at the school or college level, whereas the SPH assessment allows us to compare data across School units.
- We are able to publish our results quicker and respond to your feedback more directly. We also include data from recent SPH alumni.
- Our assessment began in fall 2020, before the University’s, which was first administered in Spring 2023.
- The SPH climate assessment is focused on racial equity, antiracism, and the goals of our Strategic Plan for Antiracism (SPAR).
- Our 2024 assessment will include qualitative data in the form of focus groups
- The University climate survey and the SPH climate assessment occur on a biennial basis. They are administered in opposite years.
2022 SPH Climate Assessment
- 2022 Climate assessment report (prepared in December 2022)
2020 SPH Climate Assessment
- 2020 Climate assessment report (prepared in October 2020)
- 2020 Climate assessment: overview results (presented at October 2020 SPH Community Forum)
