This priority area reflects actions that will incorporate a lens of evaluation and assessment into processes and procedures at Dartmouth. These additional measures are intended as early steps in integrating an evidence-based approach to decision-making and regular reviews of existing processes that impact the experiences of staff, faculty, and students.
Actions
Develop a mechanism to regularly review trends from exit survey data as a marker of the overall employee experience for faculty and staff.
As a part of the Inclusive Excellence initiative, an institutional exit survey was implemented for all employees who voluntarily departed from their positions. This data collection began in 2019 and provides a proxy for the campus culture from the perspective of employees. The Office of Human Resources in partnership with IDE will review survey responses on an annual basis to identify trends that may inform future professional development, policies, and processes. This action is anticipated to be implemented as a regular practice by Summer 2024.
Establish a regular process for assessing search and governing committee participation for women and faculty of color.
Recognizing that faculty of color and women faculty have been found to bear a heavier burden on mentorship and service, the Inclusive Excellence initiative called for departments, divisions, and schools to measure and balance institutional workload across faculty. This action had been implemented in the past with varied results. The action will focus on creating a system and regular process for reporting committee service for faculty. The metrics and process for data collection on faculty service will be refined by Fall 2025.
Assess and evaluate graduate student mentoring committees with faculty from multiple graduate programs to track and evaluate equity and inclusion in their mentorship experience.
Ensuring support and mentorship for graduate students is critical to their overall experience as those with strong mentors are more likely to be successful in securing fellowships and funding, and to have broader social networks that are linked to job placement outcomes. This is especially true for graduate students from underrepresented groups. Building on the call in C3I for all graduate students to have mentoring committees, Dartmouth will assess and evaluate the implementation of mentoring committees on the graduate student experience across demographics. This assessment will be used to refine this feature of graduate programs and data on the impact will be compiled by Fall 2024.
Assess and strengthen community life and inclusivity for all students.
As the demographics of our undergraduate and graduate populations shift and students’ needs continue to evolve, it is critical for Dartmouth to evaluate its current capacity to effectively support students’ needs. To that end, the Division of Student Affairs will conduct organizational reviews for the Office of Pluralism and Leadership (OPAL), the Native American Programs, and the Tucker Center and will include The Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, the Tuck School of Business, and the Geisel School of Medicine in those discussions. Recommendations resulting from these organizational reviews should be implemented by Winter 2024.