2010 Climate Survey

June 1, 2011

Dear Faculty,

Bowling Green State University is a partner in a collaborative effort with five other universities in northern Ohio (University of Akron, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, Kent State University, University of Toledo) to enhance the campus academic environment through institutional change and leadership development of women faculty members in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines. This three-year project, funded by the National Science Foundation, entitled “Institutions Developing Excellence in Academic Leadership (IDEAL)," is now in the second year.

Last year a climate survey was initiated by the faculty on the IDEAL team. All full-time faculty members at BGSU were invited to participate in the survey. The Office of Academic Affairs assisted the effort through the Office of Institutional Research. The goal of the survey was to assess the institutional climate of faculty and to determine what climate differences exist between faculty in the sciences and mathematics versus other disciplines, as well as climate differences between the genders.

The IDEAL team has completed the analysis of the survey and will present the results in three parts. The first part presents the overall climate results for all faculty respondents along with the methodology of the analysis. Part one is included with this message. The second part will present the climate comparisons between men and women faculty, and the third part will present climate comparisons between STEM and non-STEM faculty. These results will be shared in the coming weeks.

The IDEAL team hopes that the results of the climate survey will raise awareness of the national problem of underrepresentation of women and minority groups in STEM areas and stimulate discussion at BGSU about how campus climate affects the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty in STEM as well as other discipines on campus. The IDEAL team created a blog so that members of the faculty community may comment on the climate survey results. In addition, the link to the IDEAL website is provided for those of you who are interested in more details about the survey and the NSF IDEAL project.

Sincerely,

Kenneth W. Borland Jr.
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost