Climate Survey

An organizational climate is the real or perceived quality of interpersonal, academic, and professional interactions and consists of “the attitudes, behaviors, and principles that impact the level of respect for individual needs, abilities, and potential” (Hurtado, 1992; Rankin, 2001). 

A climate of an organization reflects the feelings or emotional state of how a place is experienced by both individuals and groups, and also the interactions between those various groups and individuals. Diversity is one aspect of college climate.

Measuring the climate through a survey provides a snapshot in time that can help inform decisions about how an organization can improve its culture.

A "climate survey" is a study of people's perceptions and perspectives of the workplace culture of their organization. Since around 2006 academic institutions have used climate surveys to learn about the atmosphere and attitudes on their campuses. It is considered a best practice that is used to identify what is working and what needs to improve. 

Our climate survey offers everyone - faculty, staff and graduate assistants - an opportunity to share their feedback and insights about their experiences and what matters most to them in their work. The results will help us pinpoint potential needs by specific groups such as exempt/non-exempt staff, pre-tenure/post-tenure faculty, or extension/on-campus workers. 

Understanding our AGNR climate is an important step toward ensuring the ongoing and future success of our people and our land-grant mission.

To ensure that survey participants remain confidential an external evaluation firm will distribute and analyze the survey. 

The survey instrument is based on questions that are designed to help colleges and universities measure and assess strengths and weaknesses around diversity efforts and workplace satisfaction. 

The survey is customized so that the questions will reflect the experience of our entire community those who work in College Park and those who work across the state in Extension or Research Centers.

These insights will help us as an organization to foster a workplace where everyone feels safe, welcome, valued, and respected.

Yes. This is a confidential survey only accessible via secure link sent by an external evaluation firm.

The external firm will administer the survey and analyze the data, providing updates and reports to the AGNR Diversity Officer. The company's analysts will treat the data with absolute confidentiality, and no one beyond those analysts will have access to any individual-level data.

All information you provide is confidential. Your email will never be connected to any data received by AGNR. No supervisors, chairs, directors, administrators or anyone else will be able to view any individual employee responses.

No one at AGNR will be able to identify how you personally responded to any question. For an example of how the data is presented in a report form please see the 2022 survey summary.

Participation is voluntary.

Everyone who receives an emailed link to the survey is strongly encouraged to participate so that we have representative data. We are aiming for a 75% completion rate for the 2024 survey.

Remember, this brief survey is bi-annual opportunity to offer insight into your unique experiences. 

The results will 1) help us to examine the level of belonging, respect, and satisfaction present across the college so we can identify strengths and opportunities to shape programs and policies, and 2) allow us to evaluate and rate our progress based on prior surveys.

Your input provides the essential information we need to foster a respectful and inclusive community that values everyone at AGNR.

The 2024 survey will be open from October 1 - 12, 2024.

When the survey launches all faculty, staff, unit leaders, department chairs, administrators and graduate assistants should expect to receive an email. Anyone not receiving this email should check their spam folder.

The first survey was administered November 1st through November 22nd, 2022. The final survey will be administered in fall 2025 or 2026.

At the launch of each survey you will receive an email directly from the external evaluation firm administering the survey inviting you to participate in confidential AGNR survey with a secure link to the survey. Click on the link to begin your survey on a computer, tablet or mobile phone.

Each survey link is unique, so do not forward the survey email to others. Only the external firm will know if the survey is opened and your email is never included in any data provided to AGNR. Once you complete the survey and click “submit”, your survey is closed and cannot be edited. 

The survey will take from 10 - 15 minutes to complete. If you have any problems with your survey, please contact Amanda Shaffer, AGNR Diversity Officer, at shaffer9@umd.edu.

Findings from the climate survey will be used to understand growth and to make any needed improvements that will foster more inclusive environments which facilitate the success of our people and our land-grant mission.

The results of the 2024 survey will 1) help us examine levels of belonging, respect, and satisfaction across the college so we can identify opportunities to shape programs and policies, and 2) allow us to evaluate and rate our progress in comparison to the 2022 survey.

Your input provides the essential information we need to foster a respectful and inclusive community that values everyone at AGNR.

The external evaluation firm administering the survey will provide the anonymized data and a summary report to the Diversity Officer to show overall averages and trends.  The data will be disaggregated by demographics such as race and ethnicity; gender; and role (e.g., graduate student, faculty, staff).

The disaggregated findings will also be shared directly with senior leadership, posted on this website, and shared through open forum presentations and discussions with the AGNR community to further identify areas of progress, areas to address, and next steps. 

The 2022 summary is available for review.

The results of each survey are first shared with the dean, senior leadership and department chairs in the months following the close of the survey. If there is a large enough response rate to protect participants confidentiality, department and unit level data may be shared. The 2022 survey response only allowed for a unit level report for Extension. 

An executive summary will be provided for comment to the DEIR Council and subsequently made available college-wide as an executive summary. College-wide meetings and department/unit level meetings can be requested to discuss the results in depth. 

In 2024 the survey data will include trend analysis for 2022 and 2024 data. The 2026 survey results will include a comprehensive overview of trends and changes. You may review the 2022 summary report here.

A climate survey serves as a snapshot to assess and compare perceptions over time, as well as address needed areas of improvement and engagement. To adequately benchmark these attitudes and perceptions AGNR will conduct the survey three times: November 2022, fall 2024, and fall of 2026.