Research and Assessment

The Office for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion collaborates with scholars and professionals by engaging in research and assessment services to:

• use in benchmarking college and unit diversity initiatives
• sustain successful efforts that demonstrate that students derive an educational benefit from participating in a diverse environment
• process data into information useful for decision-making
• use information for improvement to demonstrate how it can be used to improve learning outcomes for educational support services for faculty, students and staff
• inspire creative exploration of ideas to further infuse diversity and inclusion into the university's curriculum and support programs
• collaborate with other stakeholders committed to creating an inclusive university community

To accomplish its tasks, the Office for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion will:

• Consult with external and internal stakeholders to identify critical issues
• Advocate for diverse populations in the form of recommendations to administrators that suggest a need for institutional change

A thorough assessment process of diversity and inclusion initiatives helps the university identify its problems, root causes, possible solutions, timelines and resources needed in the change process. The benefits of making an investment (return on investment) in research and assessment initiatives include:

• Identifying needs before selecting a costly solution/strategy path
• Capturing organizational knowledge for planning purposes
• Evaluating the state and effectiveness of existing procedures
• Creating documentation for use in evaluating solutions
• Obtaining user buy-in of a solution/strategy path