Campus & Workplace Survey Results Will Guide Progress

Dec. 1, 2021

Dear Lynx community,

Now that our important Campus & Workplace Culture Survey has closed, we want to thank all those in our campus community who shared their insights and experiences. With more than 4,100 people completing the survey—including 69% of our staff, 45% of our faculty, 23% of our graduate students, and 20% of our undergraduates—we have taken a significant step toward building a more robust and integrated culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University of Colorado Denver.

These strong numbers demonstrate the broad commitment to progress that will be the foundation of CU Denver’s transformative work in the months and years ahead. Going forward, we will use the findings of this survey to guide our university’s comprehensive efforts as elaborated in our 2030 Strategic Plan—in particular, Goal 1: Become the nation's first equity-serving institution, and Goal 5:  Be known as a people-centered best place to work. Survey results will inform action plans outlining how we will pursue change in key areas for the future. We will also continue to solicit feedback from our campus community and engage with our broader stakeholders to facilitate our collective progress.

When we launched the survey, we announced a $15,000 funding incentive through the Greater Good Pool to encourage participation and further support three vital CU Denver organizations: Campus Employee Emergency Relief Fund, Food Pantry, and Phoenix Center at Auraria. While our aggregate participation rate of 25% fell below our bold expectations for this incentive, we remain wholly committed to investing in your work each and every day and supporting a culture that enables all students, faculty, and staff members to thrive. Therefore, we are releasing the $15,000 equitably amongst the three organizations. Only through sustained engagement and deliberate actions can we foster a more just, diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus community and create the brighter, bolder future our university deserves.

The CU Denver Climate and Workplace Culture Steering Committee will begin to analyze the survey’s results in the coming months. We look forward to sharing more with you during the spring semester regarding results and how the school/college/unit teams will develop meaningful action plans.

Many thanks again for helping us build an educational and scholarly environment where every Lynx feels valued, respected, and supported.

Michelle Marks
Chancellor

Antonio Farias
Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion