Diversity Innovations Institutional Leadership

Campus Climate and Culture


National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID), University of Michigan   NEW!
NCID represents a strategic commitment by the University of Michigan to address complex diversity issues within higher education and other major social institutions. The Center is inspired by the vision of higher education's critical role in promoting knowledge, justice, and opportunity in a diverse democracy and global economy. NCID aims to prepare people for active engagement in a diverse society and works toward building productive as well as inclusive communities at U-M and beyond.

The Center promotes national exemplars of diversity scholarship, multilevel engagement, and innovation by operating as a catalyst, venture fund, incubator, clearinghouse, publisher, and think tank. Strategic NCID partnerships bridge scholarship with social change through engagement at the campus/institutional, local/state, and national/international levels. Core priorities and activities focus on the challenges and opportunities of diversity in the broadest, richest sense—including diversity of viewpoints.

GENIUS Index
The Gender Equality National Index for Universities and Schools (GENIUS) is a nationwide report card tracking and evaluating colleges, universities, and local school boards whose non-discrimination policies and practices have made them diversity leaders on gender rights.  Schools are also evaluated on additional criteria - including sexual orientation protections, gender-neutral restrooms and gender-blind housing - that ensure campuses are safe and welcoming for all students and staff.

Office of Multicultural Affairs, Virginia Tech
The mission of the OMA is to provide leadership and direction for the continuous assessment and improvement of university-wide efforts to create and sustain a more diverse and inclusive community of learners; to work collaboratively with other university units to build a capacity to recognize and value difference, encourage and support positive interactions between and among diverse populations, and maximize the benefits of a multicultural perspective; and to advise the President and university leadership on the policies, programs, practices and resources needed to achieve excellence, equity and effectiveness in the research, teaching and learning, and outreach activities of the university.

Campus Climate, University of Wisconsin-Madison
This webpage features resources for institutions trying to improve their campus climate. In addition to practical strategies for improving climate, the site offers assessment instruments and an annotated bibliography.

Office for Institutional Diversity, Central Michigan University
The Office for Institutional Diversity's six units: Minority Student Services, Multicultural Education Center, Native American Programs, Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bi- and Transgender Programs, Student Disability Services, and Women's Studies offer a variety of educational, cultural, and professional development programs that help to infuse diversity into the curriculum, to promote student learning, and to foster an appreciation of our differences and similarities.

National Consortium of Directors Resources LGBT Resources for Higher Education
The mission of the Consortium is to achieve higher education environments in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni have equity in every respect. They strive to support colleagues and develop curriculum to professionally enhance this work, to seek climate improvement on campuses, and to advocate for policy change, program development, and establishment of LGBT Offices and Centers.

Bridging the Student/Academic Affairs Divide
Research reveals that to provide the best educational environment, campus leaders should bridge the student/academic affairs divide. This Diversity Digest article describes several institutional efforts to bring together these two areas of college life in an effort to better prepare students for the challenges of societal diversity.

Chilly Climate: How Men and Women Are Treated Differently in the Classroom and at Work
Dr. Bernice Resnick Sandler creates strategies for organizations and individuals to improve equity for women in education and the workplace. This web site includes strategies to deal with sexual harassment, differential classroom treatment of females and males, mentoring, and other issues involving women and girls in the workplace and classroom.

Project Pulse, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

The Student Affairs, Research, Information, and Systems (SARIS) office administers Project Pulse, a Gallup-type telephone polling system conducted weekly. Project Pulse provides data for various decision-makers on campus. Some of the Project's most recent climate surveys address issues of Gender Equity, Race and Ethnicity, Anti-Semitism, and GBLT issues and violence.

Campus Diversity and Student Self-Segregation: Separating Myths from Facts by Debra Humphreys, AAC&U

In this briefing paper, Humphreys summarizes the most current research on student self-segregation and campus diversity showing that widespread racial/ethnic clustering of students isn't a dominant feature of college life today; some degree of racial-ethnic clustering in support programs, dorms, and study groups is positively associated with student learning outcomes and retention, and these activities do not impede intergroup contact. Research also shows that a diverse campus environment positively impacts all students by contributing to their intellectual and social development. A list of experts on campus diversity and student intergroup relations is also provided.

Campus Climate Studies on Race and National Origin, Indiana State University (ISU)

At the request of their Provost in 1995, the ISU's Office of Institution, Research and Testing conducted a study of the race and national origin climate at ISU. The reports provide a detailed synopsis of the findings. Copies of the technical report can be requested from the office.

  • Report on the Status of Women, Georgia Institute of Technology
    This report is an extensive institutional self-evaluation of the status of female students and faculty on campus. It documents the results of a five-year (1993-1998) examination of student and faculty demographics, the educational and professional experiences of female students and faculty, and the campus climate at Georgia Tech. The broad objective of this investigation was to identify the fundamental issues that differentially affect the education and employment of female students and faculty at Georgia Tech.
  • Bibliography: Campus Climate Reports.
    A comprehensive listing of reports available from various institutions addressing climate issues for gay, lesbian and bisexual people at colleges and universities.
Questions, comments, and suggested resources should be directed to Hugo Najera at diversityweb@aacu.org.
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