In line with the university’s commitment to keeping the Lehigh community informed of our progress regarding priorities outlined in the university’s Diversity, Inclusion and Equity (DI&E) Strategic Plan, Lehigh recently released updates and data regarding the following goals:
- Be a leader among our peers in the discipline-specific percentage of faculty across the university by race/ethnicity and sex.
- Be a leader among our peers in the percentage of staff across the university by race/ethnicity and sex.
- Be a leader among our peers in the percentage of all students enrolled across the university by race/ethnicity and sex.
- Ensure that first-year retention, and four- and six-year graduation rates and time to degree do not differ by race/ethnicity and sex, and by Pell-eligible status.
These updates follow up on the progress measures announced last spring, and mark ongoing efforts to analyze the university’s progress in relation to the four priority areas of the DI&E Strategic Plan: 1. Enhance Our Culture; 2. Improve Institutional Infrastructure; 3. Diversify Faculty and Staff; and 4. Expand Student Access and Support.
As noted in the spring announcement, some of these Progress Measures’ accompanying data sets currently exist, and others are under development and will be reported in the future.
The initial set of progress measures is a starting point and is intended to be a dynamic list that is added to and adjusted over time as needed. Some progress measure descriptors (e.g., race and ethnicity and sex) were updated based on the data available.
Earlier in December, the 2022 Diversity and Equity Campus Climate Survey results were released, providing an updated benchmark for multi-faceted topics including perceptions of students, faculty, staff and administrators regarding our climate; how Lehigh supports diversity and equity; and the community’s experiences with insensitive or disparaging remarks and discrimination and harassment.
This data provides Lehigh with an important assessment of university-wide efforts to support a culture of belonging and to enhance diversity, inclusion and equity (DI&E) at Lehigh. For more information on our ongoing university-wide efforts, visit The Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity.
