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What is the CWC Survey?

The University of Colorado system and campuses launched the Campus and Workplace Culture (CWC) Survey fall of 2021. The University of Colorado is committed to creating an inclusive environment where all members of our community feel respected, supported, and valued. The purpose of the Campus and Workplace Culture Survey is to gather information from CU students, staff, and faculty about their academic, workplace, and residential environments.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are integral parts of the CU strategic plan and specific metrics will result from the initial survey and action plans developed post-survey. Progress will be monitored through metrics, action plans and future survey administration. We will use the results from this survey to better understand our existing culture and to identify both strengths and areas of concern in order to make recommendations for creating and sustaining a just, equitable, and inclusive culture at CU.

Background

In 2019 CU launched the Diversity Engagement Survey (DES). DES was an initiative of the Board of Regents and administered by a third party. The survey had a low participation rate of 14% overall and 15.4% for Boulder, 8.8% for UCCS, 9% for Denver, 18.8% for Anschutz, and 48.3% for the system. In addition, the survey was not originally developed to have demographic questions on political affiliation or political philosophy, both of which are protected class groups at CU. After consulting with system and campus leaders, CU decided to transition to the Campus Workplace Climate Survey (CWC) which has already proved to have a participation rate between 53%-73% for faculty, staff and students on one of our campuses and allows us to have a more representative look at the extent to which protected classes feel respected, supported, and valued at CU.

Lead Contacts for CWC Survey

System Administration

  • Ashley Eschler, Program Director of Culture, Talent and Leadership Development
  • Felicity O'Herron, VP/Chief Human Resources Officer
  • Dr. Judi Diaz Bonacquisti, VP/Senior Diversity Officer
  • Ryan Allred, Director, Institutional Research and Data Analysis
  • Stephanie Sheldon, Enterprise Buisiness Intelligence Analyst, Institutional Research
  • Dr. Thanh Nguyen, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Initiatives

Anschutz

  • Dr. Regina Richards, Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement
  • Jameel Mallory, Program Specialist
  • Dave Deffenbacher, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Institutional Research

Denver

  • Antonio Farias, CU Denver, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Ian Whitman, Senior Data Analyst
  • Dr. Nelia Viveiros, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Operations

Boulder

  • Dr. Sonia DeLuca Fernández, Senior Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Dr. Dyonne Bergeron, CU Boulder, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Inclusion and Student Achievement
  • Teresa Wroe, CU Boulder, Senior Director of Education & Prevention & Deputy Title IX Coordinator
  • Julie Volckens, CU Boulder, OIEC Director of Assessment
  • Robert Stubbs, CU Boulder, Director for Institutional Research
  • Dr. Frances Costa, CU Boulder, IR Senior Researcher
  • Dr. Amy Biesterfeld Nakatani, CU Boulder, IR Assistant Director for Assessment

Colorado Springs

  • Rame Hanna, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Dr. Robyn Marschke, CU Colorado Springs, Director Institutional Research

General Contact Information:

Timeline

April to October 2021 Communication planning, campus meetings, and survey preparation 
October 2021 Survey opened
November 2021 Survey closed
January 2022 Response rates shared with Board of Regents
February 10, 2022 Presentation on five (5) strategic plan aligned questions at Board of Regents meeting 
April 7-8, 2022 Presentation on campus level results presented at Board of Regents Meeting
Summer 2022 and beyond Sharing full campus results
Action plan development and implementation

Security & Privacy

What steps are being taken to protect the anonymity of my survey responses?

  • We know that individuals must have assurance that their responses are confidential and secure if we are to receive accurate and candid feedback. Survey participants' privacy is of utmost importance to us, and strict internal safeguards are in place to ensure that privacy.
  • For the System, no one outside of the Office of Institutional Research (OIR) – no administrators —has access to survey respondents’ identities or to files that may connect names or email addresses with answers to survey questions.
  • Members of the OIR Assessment team will manage the survey email distribution list, wherein it is recorded who has and has not completed the survey questionnaire.
  • Once a participant submits their survey, the identifying information that permitted the database manager to keep track of who did and did not respond to the survey is automatically deleted. In other words, each case in the final data file is an anonymous case. In addition, the data file is encrypted and stored in a secure, encrypted drive which only OIR assessment staff can access.
  • Questionnaire responses will be aggregated for statistical analysis and reporting. We will aggregate the data to groups of 10 or more responses in order to maintain the anonymity of survey participants. If any demographic group or combination of group characteristics has fewer than 10 individuals, those data will not be reported. OIR will not provide any findings that would risk making someone identifiable due to the uniqueness of their demographic characteristics, years at CU, faculty rank, job category, or a combination of those factors. Your anonymity is our first duty of care and will be protected in all reports resulting from this survey. We are committed to ensuring that individuals can provide candid feedback with confidence. Anything else is counter-productive to the effort.
  • Please contact Ryan Allred, Director of Institutional Research and Data Analysis, CU System, at ryan.allred@cu.edu for more information regarding steps taken to ensure anonymity and confidentiality.

How secure are my data?

  • The CU System Office of Institutional Research currently safeguards any sensitive employment and student data it accesses by using state-of-the-art data security protocols. The survey platform, Qualtrics, meets Vendor Security Assessment Questionnaire (VSAQ) data standards. Data are encrypted in transit and at rest. Read more about Qualtrics security. Once the survey has closed, data will also be encrypted in transit to OIR. The full database of anonymized responses will then be held by OIR in encrypted form on their secure server. The de-identified data will be stored to allow investigation of trends by comparison with future surveys.
  • Please contact Please contact Ryan Allred, Director of Institutional Research and Data Analysis, CU System, at ryan.allred@cu.edu for more information about data security.

Additional Resources

CWC Survey at System Administration

The System Administration's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Office of Institutional Research (IR) are collaboratively administering the survey for system employees. DEI, IR and Employee Services offices will lead the System Office Survey Response Team (SRT) through data review, action planning, and department meetings. Learn more about the System Office Survey Response Team here.