Impact on Student Experience and Outcomes Campus Diversity: Impact on Student Experience and Outcomes Xiaohui Zheng, UC Office of the President Allison Cantwell, UC Riverside Aye Mon Htut-Rosales, UC Los Angeles Presentation at CAIR Conference November 14-16, 2018 Greeting, welcome, intro. 4/7/2019

Background the state of being diverse; variety. unlikeliness [uncountable] the condition of having composed of different elements, the inclusion of different types of people (such as races, culture) Aye: diverse definitions of diversity, variety, difference, unlikeliness, inclusion, individuals. Uncountable but we’ll attempt to measure and examine the impact on our students’ experiences and outcome. 4/7/2019

Background Diversity is defined as all characteristics and experiences that define each of us as individuals. Diversity includes Race and Ethnicity, Gender, Religious beliefs, Political beliefs, Socio-economic status, Disability, Immigration status, and Sexual Orientation. A diverse environment aims to create an inclusive culture that values and benefits from the contributions of all individuals. Hypothesis -> Campus Diversity has positive impact on students experience and outcomes. Aye: It could include many things. For the purpose of the research, we are focusing on: Race and Ethnicity, Gender, Religious beliefs, Political beliefs, Socio-economic status, Disability, Immigration status, and Sexual Orientation. We believe campus diversity has positive on students. And we are fortunate to have rich UC survey data that we collect systemwide to test our hypothesis.

Previous Research on Diversity A racially diverse campus environment has a positive relationship with: Educational outcomes Beliefs that diversity is important Discussion of and engagement with diversity activities Discussion of and engagement with diversity activities/Cultural engagement have a positive relationship with: College satisfaction Academic self-efficacy/confidence Sense of belonging Allison: Educational outcomes = retention, learning outcomes, GPA Discussion of racial issues Engagement with diversity activities: courses/curriculum, research activities, clubs Cultural engagement: interactions with others from different cultures/cross-racial interaction 4/7/2019

Previous Research on Diversity Campus commitment to diversity and inclusion has a positive impact on: Student academic success Personal growth Strengthening community Allison 4/7/2019

Research Questions How do students with different backgrounds perceive diversity on campus? What effect does diversity have on the college experience of UC students? For students with similar backgrounds, do students in more diverse environments have better academic and social outcomes? Xiaohui: This study focuses on three main research questions. First, we look at how students with different backgrounds perceive diversity on campus. Next, we examine the effects diversity had on the experience of college students with various backgrounds. Based on that, we search the answer for students with similar backgrounds, do students in more diverse environment have better academic and social outcomes. 4/7/2019

UC Undergraduate Experience Survey UCUES 2018 UCUES: biennial systemwide population survey Population: 208,205 current freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors Response rate: 33% (67,894 undergraduates) Contents and Structure Xiaohui: This study uses data from UCUES 2018. UCUES stands for UC Undergraduate Experience Survey. It is a biennial systemwide population survey. The 2018 Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES) was administered to over 200,000 current freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors enrolled at UC’s nine undergraduate campuses in spring 2018. The survey gathered responses from a total of 67,894 undergraduate students across the system at a response rate of 33%. UCUES 2018 study consists of a core section and a module section. The core section covers multiple topics about undergraduate experience and is given to all students. The module section is given to students not taking a campus-specific wildcard module. It covers three main topic areas including academic experience, student development and civic engagement. The core section has a comprehensive list of campus climate questions. Next, Aye will provide a detailed description about the diversity dimensions we constructed based on these questions. 4/7/2019

Student Experiences and Outcomes Methodology: Diversity Operationalized Respect for Identities Exposure to Diversity Perception on Institution’s Commitment to Diversity Campus Climate Diversity Student Experiences and Outcomes Aye: Based on previous studies and theory, and conducting Principle Component Analysis for data reduction, we came up with 4 constructs.

Methodology: Key Independent Variables Student Level Diversity dimensions/Factor analyses (agreement likert scale from 1 to 5) Aye (5 mins) 4/7/2019

Methodology: Key Independent Variables Student Level Diversity dimensions/Factor analyses Aye (5 mins) 4/7/2019

Methodology: Key Dependent Variables Student Level Diversity dimensions/Factor analyses Aye (5 mins) 4/7/2019

Methodology Outcome Variables Cumulative UC GPA Academic engagement Student Satisfaction Sense of belonging Background Variables Gender Ethnicity Matriculation status Campus affiliation First-generation Major discipline Xiaohui: We identified 5 outcome variables representing student’s academic and social outcomes in college. 4/7/2019

Diversity Score by Gender Xiaohui 4/7/2019

Diversity Score by Matriculation Xiaohui 4/7/2019

Diversity Score by Ethnicity Xiaohui 4/7/2019

Diversity Score by Discipline Xiaohui 4/7/2019

Effects of Diversity on College Outcomes & Experience Xiaohui 4/7/2019

Effects of Diversity on College Outcomes & Experience Xiaohui 4/7/2019

Summary Student perceptions of diversity vary by student characteristics. Dimensions of diversity have impacts on student academic outcomes and the student experience. The influence is stronger for: campus climate exposure to diversity commitment to diversity On: academic engagement sense of belonging student satisfaction Allison 4/7/2019

Summary The strongest relationships for each of our outcomes, holding student characteristics and campus constant are: Respect to identities to College GPA Exposure to diversity to Academic Engagement Campus commitment to diversity to Sense of belonging and Student satisfaction Allison 4/7/2019

Methodology: UC Diversity Fall 2016 UCB UCD UCI UCLA UCM UCR UCSD UCSB UCSC Staff Racial/Ethnic Diversity Index 0.73 0.61 0.70 0.74 0.66 0.71 0.67 0.56 Faculty Racial/Ethnic Diversity Index 0.58 0.52 0.57 0.60 0.50 0.54 Undergraduate Racial/Ethnic Diversity Index 0.76 0.78 0.75 0.77 % Pell Recipients 27.7% 38.4% 42.3% 33.8% 60.7% 55.8% 34.3% 36.5% 39.3% % First Generation 27.6% 42.5% 50.3% 34.6% 70.2% 57.7% 37.9% 42.4% 42.0% Diversity Index as indicator of heterogeneity = 1−∑Pi2 Pi=proportion of i racial/ethnic category Racial/Ethnic Diversity across campuses are similar Greatest differences in % Pell and % First Generation Allison 4/7/2019

Future Directions Consider campus diversity in an Hierarchical Linear Model Current study has few schools for level 2 indicators of diversity Level 2 indicators within this sample are relatively homogenous Allison 4/7/2019

Discussion Questions What is the climate on your campus based on your observation? What are the initiatives your campus is doing that you would like to share? What are the challenges you face in improving the campus climate and overall experiences of the students? What are the lessons learned that are worth sharing? What are the future areas of research you would like to see in this area? Aye: UCLA Initiatives: IDHE (Institute for Democracy and Higher Education) project, Civil discourse, IGD (Inter-group dialogues), Diversity Requirement 4/7/2019

Thank you! 4/7/2019

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