Contact
Special Assistant for Inclusive Excellence Barb Lundberg
Phone: 715-682-1344
Email
Special Assistant for Inclusive Excellence Barb Lundberg
Phone: 715-682-1344
Email
Northland College is conducting a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Sense of Belonging (DEIS) Climate Study to get a current pulse of campus and the experiences different populations have. This will be a qualitative study, and Northland has partnered with an expert in climate studies—Rankin Climate—to conduct focus groups and analyze themes from them.
Climate Study Timeline
The DEIS Climate Study will include four primary phases. The first involves planning and developing focus groups, followed by conducting focus groups on March 20, 2023, data analysis, and presenting of findings towards the beginning of the 2023 academic year.
The DEIS Climate Study will involve conducting focus groups around affinity identities. The focus groups will be conducted on Monday, March 20, 2023. Northland’s partner for the DEIS Climate Study, Rankin Climate, will bring outside facilitators to campus to conduct them. Refreshments will be available for participants.
Focus groups are open to students, faculty, staff, and employees in dining, maintenance/facilities, and security.
People may only participate in one focus group. Many people will find that they fit into more than one of the groups, and we recognize that it may be difficult to pick just one. However, it is important to ensure that the findings are representative of the overall campus to ensure that they are valid. The questions the facilitators will ask are the same for each group, and while each focuses on a particular population or identity, participants are not restricted to talking only about that identity. When you complete the Focus Group Interest Form, you will be able to choose multiple groups and rank your preferences.
Focus group participation is confidential. Only one person will be able to view form responses. Paula Bonk, executive assistant to the vice president for academic affairs, will receive them and assign participants to groups based on availability and how each person ranked the groups when they signed up. She is the only person with any access to the form—Rankin Climate does not have access, and entries are not viewable by any other department.
You’re only committing to ninety minutes. There are no other expectations of participants aside from attending one ninety-minute session on Monday, March 20.
You will learn your group’s meeting time in a follow-up email to confirm your availability. To maintain confidentiality, the focus group schedule will not be shared. After completing the interest form, you will receive a follow-up email inviting you to participate in one of the groups you selected. That email will indicate the meeting time and ask you to confirm that that time works for you. If it does not, you may be invited to participate in a different focus group if another group you selected on the interest form meets at a different time and has not filled yet.