Frequently Asked Questions

The 2019 Climate Survey data has been used across UW departments and committees to support initiatives and research. Every school, college and administrative unit leader was provided with a unit-specific report outlining key findings. Leaders were encouraged to put the findings to use and enact change within their respective units.

Below are some examples of how data was requested or used — both centrally and within departments and administrative units.

The Office of the Title IX Coordinator and the ADA Coordinator used the 2019 Climate Survey data extensively in advocacy, training, addressing disparities and raising awareness.

• Title IX Training Development: The Office of the Title IX Coordinator used data on experiences or observations of sexual misconduct, awareness of reporting options and available resources, and perceptions of institutional training initiatives. This data was used in the following ways:
  • Enhancing education: Data was integrated into the Husky Prevention & Response courses, ensuring the courses were tailored to the needs and experiences of the UW community.
  • Addressing resource awareness and reporting gaps: The office created an online reporting form and expanded its staffing to help people navigate the University’s reporting process.
  • Preserving equal access: More tailored supportive measures and response efforts were developed for students from systemically marginalized groups.
  • Challenging misperceptions about training: Survey responses revealed that sexual and gender harassment prevention training has a strong positive influence on campus climate.
• Accessibility and Disability Climate Assessment: The ADA Coordinator and the ADA & Accessibility Steering Committee used the data on disability status, barriers to accessibility, and overall campus climate for people with disabilities. This was the most robust data on disability available in many years. The data was used in the following ways by the ADA Coordinator:
  • Sharing lived experiences of the disability community with various schools, colleges and academic units.
  • Dialogue with partners in UW Facilities regarding the built environment and connections to the ADA Transition Plans.
  • Comparing data, specifically growth in self-disclosure, with the UW Staff Demographic Baseline Report(s).
  • Advocating to ensure the UW delivers accessibility surveys to our campus community.
  • Working with the data team that manages UW Profiles, to include disability data in four datasets: Enrollment Summary, Diversity Profile & Trends, UG Retention & Graduation, and Trends in UWG Academic Origin. Plans include adding data in graduation and persistence profiles.
• Additional examples of how data was requested or used:
  • Graduate School: Based on the survey results, the dean of the Graduate School requested a report on graduate students’ experiences and school-related insights to inform Graduate School planning.
  • Office of the University Diversity Officer (UDO): The UDO used data on religious affiliation and perceptions of campus climate to support campus initiatives.
  • Research: Data was used for research approved under the Institutional Review Board, focusing on sexual misconduct across commuter and residential campuses.
  • Federal Funding Application Support: Data was used to support an application for federal funds under the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions Program.
  • Program Development in the School of Medicine: Data on first-generation School of Medicine faculty was used to inform the development of a support program for junior first-generation faculty members.
  • Undergraduate Academic Affairs: Data on the staff experience contributed to efforts to improve the climate and outcomes for all employees in the organization, including increased emphasis on staff professional development.

To take collective action that improves the climate on our campuses and in individual units, we must identify areas for improvement. The idea to conduct a university climate survey originated from interested students, faculty and staff who believed the survey data would be useful for planning and guiding actions to improve the climate at the University of Washington’s campuses in Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma and at UW Medicine.

Additionally, the passage of Senate Bill 5227 in June 2021 by the Washington State Legislature requires that our state’s public higher education institutions conduct campus climate assessments at least once every five years.

A campus climate survey examines the full range of experiences of students and employees (including staff, faculty and other academic personnel, and clinicians) related to living, learning and working on their respective UW campuses and at UW Medicine — experiences that go to the heart of whether they feel a sense of belonging and inclusion, and whether they’re able to thrive and succeed here.

Rankin Climate defines university climate as “the current attitudes, behaviors, standards and practices of employees and students of an institution.” The climate is influenced by personal experiences, perceptions and institutional efforts.

The UW conducted its last climate assessment during the 2019–20 academic year. In partnership with Rankin Climate (formerly Rankin and Associates), a tri-campus team of 31 students, faculty and staff collaborated on survey design, implementation and report delivery from January 2020–June 2020.

The University is committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive environment where students and employees can achieve their full potential. This is central to our mission as a public institution and research university dedicated to the free and open exchange of ideas. Only by having a positive, inclusive climate can we truly achieve our individual and institutional goals — from transformative educational experiences for students to a positive working environment for faculty and staff that enables them to be most effective, as well as a University-wide and Medical Center community that fosters well-being and a sense of belonging for all.

President Ana Mari Cauce, Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange, Chancellor Kristin G. Esterberg and School of Medicine Dean and UW Medicine CEO Timothy Dellit have all committed to using the results of this survey to plan for — and take — effective actions to address critical issues that are identified over the course of this process, whether during initial development of the survey or the survey itself. For example, the results will inform development of the next UW Diversity Blueprint. The results will also help shape our work to prevent and respond to sex- and gender-based violence, harassment and discrimination as well as address discrimination based on race, color and national origin.

The Climate Survey Working Group (CSWG) is charged with conducting the University of Washington’s climate survey. Made up of 18 members representing all three campuses, the CSWG is responsible for guiding the survey, including determining the questions that will be asked.

The UW Office of Educational Assessment (OEA) will facilitate the survey. The CSWG will update the University community and UW leadership regularly about its progress. In partnership with OEA, the working group is responsible for the survey development and implementation.

Jillian Morn, Ph.D., is the lead researcher working directly with us on this project. Morn is an experienced research scientist with the Office of Educational Assessment, and she served a vital role in the UW’s 2019–20 campus climate assessment during the analysis and reporting phases.

This initiative will include four key phases. The first will involve survey development, from spring 2024 through winter 2025. The survey will be administered April 22 to May 22, 2025, followed by the reporting of results in fall quarter 2025. The final phase is leadership’s review and response, with action items identified in winter 2026.

The campus-level reports will be added to the Campus Climate website and available to all members of the UW community. The reports will also be publicly available as a matter of transparency and as required by SB 5227.

The 2025 Campus Climate Survey will be conducted using an anonymous link to a Qualtrics survey. To protect the integrity of the project and ensure that only members of the UW community participate, you will be required to authenticate your identity using single sign-on (SSO) with your UW credentials to access the survey. Once validated, your NetID will be disconnected from your survey response using a one-way hash. This process uses encryption to scramble NetID data; there will be no way to identify who has responded to the survey from the data collected. Additionally, we have enabled “Anonymize Responses” in Qualtrics for this project. This feature permanently scrubs responses of identifying information before saving it, including respondent IP address and location data.

Your candid responses are critical to this project, so we’ve taken steps to make sure your survey participation is confidential. Individual survey responses will never be disclosed. Survey data will be kept on a secure server and will only be accessed by research scientists in the Office of Educational Assessment. Write-in responses will be reviewed and redacted for any unintentionally identifiable information to protect the identity of respondents. Data will be analyzed and reported only in aggregate back to the community. OEA will not report any group data for groups of fewer than five individuals because those may be small enough to compromise anonymity. Instead, OEA will combine groups or take other measures to eliminate any potential for demographic information to be identifiable.

Participation in the survey is completely voluntary. With the exception of two questions — primary role (e.g., student or employee) and campus or UW Medicine location — respondents may skip any question they’re not comfortable answering and can still submit the survey.

The survey is being developed by OEA research scientists with input and guidance from members of the Campus Climate Survey Working Group, as well as stakeholder and constituent groups from across the University and UW Medicine. The survey development process used the 2019–20 climate survey as a baseline, editing the content to better fit the current context and culture of the UW.

The climate survey is designed to be as inclusive as possible; however, this instrument is not exhaustive in its scope. To make the survey as inclusive as possible, many demographic questions offer long lists of answer choices. While it isn’t feasible to include every possible choice to each question, the goal is to reduce the number of respondents who must choose “other.” We encourage respondents to answer only to the extent they are comfortable. Additionally, if there are aspects of your experience at UW that are not reflected in the survey, you may share in narrative form via an open text box.

The Campus Climate Survey is not approved by nor covered under IRB protections. Because the purpose of the Campus Climate Survey is to inform internal improvements at the UW, not to advance scholarship related to campus climate in higher education, it does not require IRB approval.

The target participation in the survey is all students, faculty and staff on the UW campuses in Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma and at UW Medicine and clinics. Every response matters and is valuable in providing the most beneficial feedback and results. Our goal is a response rate of at least 30% across all populations. Additionally, we aim for at least a 30% response rate for each location (UW campuses in Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma and UW Medicine).

Nearly all students, staff, faculty and other academic personnel, and clinicians will be invited to participate in the survey. This includes individuals who are employed at UW hospitals and clinics.

The survey will be administered to all undergraduate, graduate and professional students, and all UW employees (including staff, faculty and other academic personnel, and UW Medicine clinicians and staff).

Climate varies across institutions, campuses and clinical settings, so it’s important to maximize participation and opportunities to reach underserved populations. We’re not using random sampling because that method could result in not representing particular populations whose numbers are very small (e.g., American Indian/Alaska Native students). Sampling doesn’t align with the project goal of inclusiveness and the chance for all voices to be heard. In addition, randomized stratified sampling is not used because we don’t have population data on most identities; a sample approach could miss many groups.

The UW Office of Educational Assessment (OEA) will provide a final report that will include: an executive summary; a report narrative of the findings based on cross tabulations selected by the consultant; frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations of quantitative data; and content analysis of the textual data. The reports provide high-level summaries of the findings and will identify themes found in the data. The Climate Survey Working Group will review draft reports prior to OEA sharing with each campus community.