Campus Climate at CSUSM

Sping 2024 Campus Climate Actioning Workgroup

In February 2023 an invitation was sent to the campus community inviting all students, staff, faculty, and administrators to participate in a Campus Climate Actioning workgroup. The main purpose of the Campus Climate Actioning Workgroup is to create sustainable energy around campus climate assessment as well as shared ownership around campus climate dynamics.  

The Campus Climate Actioning Workgroup will:

• Identify and implement concrete actions that will lead to an improved campus climate as informed by the results of the most recent campus climate surveys. 
• Support the communication and awareness of actions being taken to improve campus climate.
• Review available campus climate survey instruments and best practices and provide recommendations for future assessment of campus climate for students, staff, faculty, and administrators.
• Connect with university-wide strategic planning efforts and other key efforts taking place on campus to assure alignment and coordination of our efforts toward common campus goals.
• Bring diverse perspective to workgroup discussions and engage with invited guest presenters who will provide additional insights into campus climate efforts.

In addition to contributing to conversations as a larger workgroup, members participate in one of three sub-workgroups. Sub-workgroup topics were determined based on areas of need identified from results of the last campus climate survey administration. Members were selected for sub-workgroups based on their area of interest and expertise:

DEI Training

The charge of the subcommittee is to identify, bring awareness, and help incentivize existing trainings with DEI components at CSUSM, within the CSU system, and in the San Diego community that further expand and compliment the DEI Inventory.  The subcommittee will also identify opportunities to embed DEI and social justice concepts into trainings that may be missing these elements and make recommendations to ensure accessibility for all campus constituents (i.e. students, faculty, staff, administrators). Further, this subcommittee will explore opportunities to enhance communication among different groups on campus (i.e., faculty, staff, students, and administrators) to advance social justice and DEI efforts.

Respect & Inclusivity Campaign

To develop a plan for promoting existing initiatives related to respect and inclusivity on campus incorporating intentional partnerships with invested stakeholders across campus.  

• Research best practices at other institutions for respect and inclusivity campaigns and consider which ones could be impactful to customize for our campus.
• Identify existing initiatives and potential partnerships.
• Create a website landing page and awareness campaign to highlight existing and new initiatives promoting respect and inclusivity across campus.

Enhancing DEI Infrastructure  

• Identifying structure
• Developing a standard charge 
• Creating dotted line relationships

Campus Climate Actioning Workgroup Members

• Alejandro Arellano, Outreach/Retention Counselor, Project Rebound
• Alison Scheer-Cohen, Associate Professor, CEHHS Speech-Language Pathology
• Ariel Stevenson, Deputy Chief Diversity Officer
• Aswad Allen, Chief Diversity Officer
• Barbara Taylor, Director, IITS Academic Technology Services
• Cherie Hill, Assistant Professor, CHABSS School of Arts - Dance
• Cheryl Landin, Assistant Director of Strategic Initiatives, Office of Inclusive Excellence
• Dominique Harrison, Survey Administrator & Analyst, Institutional Planning & Analysis
• Jonathan Trinidad, Assistant Professor, CHABSS Sociology
• Justin Lewis, Director, Readiness and Success Services
• Katie Brunson, Student
• Kelsey Jones , Assistant Professor, CEHHS Human Development
• Michael Geck, ITC, IITS Instructional & Information Technology Services
• Richard Armenta, Assistant Professor/Associate Director, CEHHS Kinesiology
• Robert Aiello-Hauser, Director of LGBTQA Pride Center
• Xandra Martinez, Student

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Fall 2022 Campus Climate Forum

On Tuesday, November 8^th from 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm, Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Aswad Allen and the campus climate reporting team shared the following updates on campus climate efforts at CSUSM with the wider campus community:

• Findings from the most recent student, staff, faculty, and administrator surveys on campus climate
• Updates on actions that have taken place in the past year based on the findings
• Tools available to access campus climate data
• Examples of ways members of the campus community like you can contribute to fostering a positive campus climate

A recording of the forum is available below.

CSUSM is thankful and appreciative of all students, staff, faculty, and administrators who participated in this survey administration for giving their time and sharing their feedback, opinions, and experiences around campus climate. The survey results will allow CSUSM to establish campus climate benchmarks and provide data to guide future campus efforts.

Spring 2021 Campus Climate Survey Results

For technical questions or problems with the survey site, please contact campusclimate@csusm.edu.