As you may recall, in July of 2021, RPI offered an anonymous climate survey to faculty and staff. The online survey was intended to help the university understand its strengths and weaknesses. A 24-member Climate Survey Task Force was appointed in May by Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson to work independently and review the survey findings, make actionable recommendations based on the survey responses, and develop a climate survey report. 

The draft report is now available for faculty and staff. You may read the survey report, and provide your feedback and recommendations by January 16, 2023. Once the Task Force has a chance to review your feedback, they will then provide me with their final report, at which point we will release the report, as well as a letter from me, which will detail our intended plan regarding the report’s recommendations. I want to thank the members of the Task Force for their thoughtful and hard work on this report and their diligence in making sure employee voices are heard. 

One recommendation of the Task Force is to have periodic surveys of campus culture. I strongly embrace this recommendation and I believe that we should establish surveys every other year of students, staff, and faculty. You can’t improve what you don’t measure, and climate surveys will be a critical tool for us to continuously build a strong community.

We are not without challenges, but I do believe that RPI has a very bright future, and I am excited about the opportunity before us. We can build off our strengths, work together to address the concerns in the report, and in so doing, create a vibrant and inclusive campus community aligned around a shared vision. 

Thank you for your participation in this process. I look forward to your feedback and working with you as we lead RPI into its third century.