Expanding Access to Diversity Data

Reflecting UArizona’s increasingly diverse student body, UAIR bolstered the University’s capacity for engaging with diversity data by releasing the Institutional Diversity dashboard, My UAccess Details dashboard, and the Academic College Diversity Workbook. UAIR collaborated with the Office of Diversity & Inclusion to develop these tools and drive inclusive change without compromising individual privacy. This release was an unprecedented step forward for transparency and accessibility given that the Institutional Diversity Dashboard and My UAccess Details are the first demographics-related UAccess Analytics releases available to all University employees.

The Institutional Diversity Dashboard provides aggregated diversity data for enrolled students and the UArizona workforce. It covers sex, age range, Pell Grant recipients, tribal affiliation and three constructs for race/ethnicity reporting to answer common diversity questions, (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System [IPEDS], Legacy IPEDS & Inclusive). Demographic data is available from Fall 2010 onwards and is accessible at the college, division, department, and University level, ensuring users can find what they’re looking for.

On the personal side of the spectrum is My UAccess Details. This dashboard displays an individual’s employment, contact, and personal information sourced from UAccess Employee. It shows University employees how they’re represented by detailing the race/ethnicity information reported to the University and IPEDS, as well as provides them the opportunity to choose or update how they are identified by the University.

The Academic College Diversity Workbook is a new addition to the publicly available Interactive Fact Book. It provides summary-level data and trends for communities within academic colleges. Available metrics include student and workforce headcounts by IPEDS race/ethnicity, sex, age, first-generation, full/ part time status, and more. The tool delivers a single source for these diversity metrics and allows anyone to view comparisons and intersectionality within colleges.

While these releases are new, they are the continuation of years of work in this space. By providing diversity data via multiple reporting methods, UAIR gives the University the opportunity to go beyond required reporting constructs. One such example that has been a key effort for the institution, is the capacity to view all aspects of an individual’s self-reported race/ethnic identity through inclusive reporting. For example, a student may identify as both Hispanic or Latinx and Black or African American. National reporting methods such as IPEDS can sometimes place individuals (both students and workforce) into only one of the categories they would have identified as; UAIR’s data provides the most inclusive picture of campus by reflecting how students view themselves.

These releases are just the latest milestones in UAIR’s journey to drive our institution toward a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future. They give faculty, staff, and students the opportunity to engage with diversity data for themselves and champion equitable change.

Support of Pay Equity Continues

UAIR’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) contributions go beyond the release of diversity data tools. The success of the 2020 Pay Equity Study for tenure/tenure-eligible faculty and its implementation laid the groundwork for future studies focusing on every faculty track. This past fiscal year, UAIR and the Office of the Provost analyzed career track faculty; as a result of this study, roughly $600k in adjustments were made, which is equivalent to an approximate 0.9% increase in the total salary pool for this population as no salaries were adjusted downwards. Through data science and pay equity studies such as this, the University’s commitment to providing all its employees a fair and equitable environment can be accomplished with the support of data-informed decisions. The completion of two successful pay equity studies for both tenure/tenure-eligible and career track faculty leads to conducting this study for continuing status faculty and making this study a more permanent, annual process. A series of reharmonizations is planned for each faculty type over the next few years, with the goal of including teaching faculty when the career track faculty study is next conducted.

UAIR Featured in EDUCAUSE

The University of Arizona and UAIR have worked to prioritize equity through action and policy that is supported by data. These efforts have been recognized by EDUCAUSE, an association dedicated to advancing IT in higher education. The 2022 Horizon Report, Data and Analytics Edition reads, “UAIR’s ability to successfully integrate in business process has been facilitated in part by establishing the chief data officer role to lead the unit, as well as the evolution of campus partnerships.” UAIR contributed perspectives in the Horizon Report for several areas. These areas include data governance and management via the role of the Chief Data Officer, DEI initiatives for data and analytics in relation to new diversity dashboards, and unifying data sources with Arizona Profiles.

Learn more at UAIR.arizona.edu