Belonging and Community at UMD Survey

The campus climate at the University of Maryland shapes the lives of all of us - students, staff and faculty. Understanding deeply the varied experiences of our community is a critical part of continuing to improve how we work towards creating a more inclusive and equitable campus environment. That is the goal of the University of Maryland climate assessment.

The survey will measure belonging and the experiences of students, staff and faculty who live, work and learn at UMD. The results will inform the creation of an action plan designed to improve belonging at UMD. Belonging is important for individual and community well-being, for personal, academic and professional success, and for ensuring everyone in the UMD community can thrive.

You can take the survey online anytime. If you need a paper copy, you can request one by emailing belonging@umd.edu. We will also be offering opportunities to take the survey in person on April 10 and 11. During the in-person dates, there will be a member of Rankin Climate present to assist with taking the survey and to provide any needed Spanish interpretation.

Wednesday, April 10

• 7:30 AM to 11 AM and 12:30 PM to 1:45 PM - STAMP Atrium (room 1107)
• 2 PM to 3:15 PM - Oakland Hall Multipurpose Room (room 0204)
• 3:30 PM to 5 PM - Yahentamitsi Dining Hall (room TBD)
• 6:45 PM to 7:45 PM - STAMP Juan Ramon Jimenez Room (room 2208)

Thursday, April 11

• 7:30 AM to 11 AM - STAMP Atrium (room 1107)
• 12:30 PM to 1:45 PM - Prince Frederick Hall Multipurpose Room (room 1105)
• 2 PM to 5 PM - South Campus Dining Hall (room TBD)
• 6:45 PM to 7:45 PM - STAMP Benjamin Banneker Room A (room 2212)
  

The survey will be available online in English, Amharic, Mandarin (simplified), Haitian Creole, French and Spanish.

Our campus is deeply committed to taking action based on the results of the survey. Recent examples of actions taken by the University that emerged from campus feedback include CLOC's Supervisor Training and the Campus Mental Health Task Force.

After the results are analyzed and reported in Fall 2024, the campus will engage in an action planning process.

By using the CAS login, we hope to ensure that only members of the UMD community take the survey. Please be assured, neither UMD nor Rankin is able to see any individually identifying information and the login is not connected to your survey response.

The following statements of confidentiality and anonymity may also be helpful to reference. We take respondent confidentiality very seriously and want to be sure everyone feels comfortable sharing their voice through this survey. Any additional questions on this can be directed to belonging@umd.edu.

Statement of Confidentiality for Participation
No personally identifiable information will be shared in any publication or presentation resulting from the assessment. Your confidentiality in participating will be kept to the degree permitted by the technology used (e.g., IP addresses and location data are never recorded). The survey is run by RC via Qualtrics, whose servers are protected by high-end firewall systems and scans are performed regularly to ensure that any vulnerabilities are quickly found and patched. Qualtrics uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption (also known as HTTPS) to protect transmitted data. Access to RC surveys is restricted and audited for compliance. In addition, the external consultant (RC) will not report any group data for groups of fewer than five individuals, which may be small enough to compromise confidentiality. Instead, RC will combine the groups to eliminate any potentially identifiable demographic information. Please also remember that you do not have to answer any question about which you are uncomfortable. The survey has been approved by the UMD Institutional Review Board.

Statement of Anonymity for Comments
Upon submission, all comments from participants will be de-identified so they will not be connected to their author. However, depending on what you say, others who know you may be able to connect certain comments to you. In instances where certain comments might be connected to an individual, RC will make every effort to de-identify those comments or will remove the comments from the analyses. The anonymous comments will be analyzed using content analysis. To give “voice” to the quantitative data, some anonymous comments may be quoted in publications related to this survey.

Rankin Climate, our consultant, has developed a repository of tested questions from administering climate assessments at more than 250 institutions across the nation. The UMD Climate Survey Working Group will work collaboratively to select and develop the survey questions, using a combination of questions from Rankin Climate’s collection and UMD-specific questions informed by the results of community focus groups.

Yes! The survey will be administered to all students, faculty and staff at the University of Maryland and we hope you will participate. Take the survey now.

The target participation in the survey is all students, faculty and staff at the University of Maryland. Every response matters and is valuable in providing the most beneficial feedback and results.

The consultant, Rankin Climate, will provide a final report that will provide high-level summaries of the findings and will identify themes found in the data. The report will inform the development of the university’s action plan.

Submitting the survey to the university's Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an important step of the campus climate study project. First, it assures potential participants that their responses to the survey will remain confidential. Second, it ensures the privacy of the data; the data security plan submitted to the IRB specifies that the Principal Investigators (PIs) responsible for analyzing and managing the data will not be expected to share the data with others. Lastly, an IRB review offers reassurance to the community that the process will be conducted ethically and professionally.

The primary investigator from the University of Maryland for the IRB process is Michelle Appel, Assistant Vice President for Institutional Research, Planning, and Assessment (IRPA). This project has IRB approval.

Participation in the survey is completely voluntary. Additionally, participants do not have to answer every question and can skip any questions.

Confidentiality is a top priority. Here are a few steps we take to ensure your information stays private:

• The survey is run on a firewalled web server with forced 256-bit SSL security and IP addresses are stripped when the survey is submitted. Paper and pencil surveys are also available; these will be sent directly to the consultant.

• In order to avoid compromising confidentiality, no group data for groups of fewer than five individuals will be reported. Smaller groups will be combined or other measures taken to eliminate sharing potentially identifiable demographic information.

• Any comments submitted as part of the survey will be handled separately from demographic characteristics. Identifiable information submitted in qualitative comments will be manually redacted by the consultants; UMD will only receive the redacted comments.

• Participation in the survey is completely voluntary, and no questions are required. Participants can skip any question(s) they do not wish to answer.


Rankin Climate employs a comprehensive research data security protocol to safeguard the integrity and confidentiality of the collected information. This protocol encompasses various aspects, including data encryption, handling of personally identifiable information (PII), physical security measures, and procedures for addressing potential data breaches. Here are the key points of this security protocol:

Data Submission: Data collected from online participants is transmitted to a secure server hosted by the consultant.

Server Security: The server is hosted on SaaS hosting platforms compliant with SOC2 standards, ensuring a high level of security. It is protected by a Next-Gen Fortigate Firewall to prevent unauthorized access.

Data Storage: The data is stored in a SQL database accessible exclusively via VPN and restricted to authorized personnel.

Encryption: Communication with the server is secured using HTTPS TLS 1.2 encryption.

Access Control: Only Rankin Climate associates involved in the project have access to the raw data. These associates have undergone CITI (Human Subjects) training and approval, and they have prior experience with similar projects.

Data Backup: Regular hourly and daily backups of the server's data are performed. Backups are stored offsite for added safety.

Data Merging: The consultant maintains an aggregate merged database that includes data from more than 250 institutional surveys. The University of Maryland project data will be integrated into this database, which is securely hosted by the consultant. Institutional identifiers are not included in the full merged dataset.

Retention Period: Raw unit-level data with institutional identifiers is retained on the server for six months and then securely destroyed.

Paper Surveys: Paper and pencil surveys are returned directly to the consultant, stored in a locked file drawer within a locked office, and subsequently destroyed after merging with online data.

Breach Notification: In the event of a data breach or suspected breach, the consultant will promptly notify the committee chairs responsible for overseeing the project.

Data Release: At the conclusion of the project, the consultant will provide the primary investigator with a data file.

Research indicates that surveys like this yield higher response rates and garner more credible findings when led by an independent consultant.

A steering committee of staff and administrators reviewed potential vendors and selected Rankin Climate, LLC. The steering committee included representation from the Office of the President, Office of Diversity & Inclusion, Division of Information Technology, Office of Faculty Affairs, Division of Student Affairs, Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment, Office of Marketing and Communications, Office of the Provost, and University Human Resources. Rankin Climate, LLC has been working with college campuses for over 20 years and has conducted similar assessments on more than 230 college campuses nationwide.

Please see this list of confidential and non-confidential support resources.