Accessibility Notice

CU Boulder is committed to making information and resources available for all users. Some听data and reports are provided via tools that are currently not fully accessible, so assistive technologies may not properly interact with the information.听 We are working to improve the accessibility of our website and the resources we provide. If you have trouble accessing or using any of the data or reports, please contact data accessibility support听or call 303-735-4357 to request assistance.

The Campus Culture Survey (鈥淐CS鈥�) is a collaborative effort between the Office of Data Analytics (ODA), the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC), and many campus stakeholders. The CCS provides an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to provide anonymized insights into the extent to which they feel respected, supported and valued at CU Boulder. The campus鈥檚 goal is to create and sustain a just, equitable and inclusive culture at CU Boulder by collecting anonymized feedback from the campus community related to their sense of belonging, academic and workplace culture, and experiences of incivility, protected-class harassment (including sexual harassment) and discrimination.

The CCS provides data that is critical to supporting important campus initiatives such as the Inclusion, Diversity and Excellence in Academics (IDEA) Plan. It also provides data used by academic programs to identify strengths and weaknesses of their department culture in preparation for their听Academic Review and Planning听(ARPac) process.

Please send questions and comments about the Culture Survey to听CampusCultureSurvey@colorado.edu.

  • Sense of belonging at CU Boulder
  • Department culture (e.g., feeling welcomed, valued, respected and supported)
  • Experiences of discrimination and personal impact of discrimination; whether or not reported
  • Workplace experiences due to identity
  • Experiences of incivility and personal impact of incivility; whether or not reported
  • Intentions to remain at CU Boulder, thoughts of leaving CU Boulder
  • Experiences of sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, and sexual misconduct at CU Boulder

The Campus Culture Survey builds on CU Boulder鈥檚听undergraduate听补苍诲听graduate听student social climate surveys in 2014. Campus staff adapted the student-focused survey questions to create comparable questions for faculty, staff听and institute employees with the goal of gaining a more complete picture of the campus culture. The survey was piloted in several iterations on over 3,000 CU community members before being finalized. In fall 2019, the Culture Survey replaced the previous survey used in the听Academic Review and Planning听(ARPac) process that each academic program undergoes every seven years to identify program strengths and weakness.

The Campus Culture Survey is administered each fall semester to faculty, staff and graduate students in units that will begin their ARPac self-study the following year.

Every four years, a campuswide administration of the CCS occurs in the fall. This campuswide administration includes all faculty, staff and students at CU Boulder (including both undergraduate and graduate students).听More information about the next full administration of the CCS is available using the 鈥淔all 2021 Campus Culture Survey鈥� button above.

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:

  • No one outside of the Office of Data Analytics (ODA)鈥攏o administrators, supervisors, or faculty鈥攈as access to survey respondents鈥� identities or to files that may connect names or email addresses with answers to survey questions.
  • Members of the ODA Survey 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.听In other words, each case in the final data file is anonymized. In addition, the data file is encrypted and stored in a secure, encrypted drive which only ODA staff can access.
  • Questionnaire responses will be aggregated for statistical analysis and reporting. We will aggregate the data to听groups of 10 or more听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. ODA will not provide any findings that would risk making someone identifiable due to the uniqueness of their characteristics, such as demographic characteristics, years at CU, faculty rank, job category, department, major听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 counterproductive to the effort.

How secure are my data?

The CU Boulder Office of Data Analytics (ODA) currently safeguards any sensitive employment and student data it accesses by using state-of-the-art data security protocols. The survey platform, Qualtrics, meets听听(VSAQ) data standards. Data are encrypted in transit and at rest.听. Once the survey has closed, data will also be encrypted in transit to ODA. The full database of anonymized responses will then be held by ODA in encrypted form on their secure server. The听de-identified听data will be stored to allow investigation of trends by comparison with future surveys.

Will survey data ever be shared?

The Campus Culture Survey is used for making program improvements and is not intended for research use. Survey responses鈥攅ven though anonymized鈥攚ill never be shared at the individual level or for groups of less than 10 responses, even for the purposes of conducting research.听See this Letter from the Chancellor听for more information about this policy.

Please email CampusCultureSurvey@colorado.edu听for more information about data privacy and security.

  • Dr. Dyonne Bergeron, CU Boulder, assistant vice chancellor for inclusion and student achievement
  • Valerie Simons, CU Boulder, associate vice chancellor and Title IX coordinator
  • Teresa Wroe, CU Boulder, senior director of education and prevention and听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, senior researcher
  • Dr. Amy Biesterfeld Nakatani, CU Boulder, director of measurement, assessment听and insights

Please send questions and comments to听CampusCultureSurvey@colorado.edu.