The Boston University School of Public Health Annual School Survey: Addressing the Needs of the Community and Providing the Evidence Base for New Initiatives

Boston University School of Public Health launched its first annual School Survey in 2015.  Designed to take the pulse of the school community, gather feedback about programming and resources, and identify areas of both strength and improvement for the School, the survey was distributed to more than 10,000 alumni, current students, employers, faculty, and staff.  The survey was designed by teams of faculty, staff, and students to ensure the School is proactively addressing the needs of the community.

Community members were asked questions relevant to their interactions with the School.  Students were asked about academic and co-curricular experiences, including events and programming, advising, School resources, mentoring, communications, and diversity and inclusion. Faculty and staff were asked questions related to workload, hiring and retention, mentoring and career development, promotion, School resources, and diversity and inclusion.  Employers and alumni were asked about needs of the field, the job market and anticipated hiring needs, and how the School may continue to strengthen the employer and alumni communities.  The survey was anonymous, ensuring participants could provide honest answers, and cross-tabulation cells with fewer than five responses were combined in the results.  

This presentation will detail the process and challenges of designing a comprehensive School Survey, including the resources required for developing and administering the survey, and analyzing the results.  It will also explore the results of the survey, how to close the feedback loop with participants, and describe how those results may be used for self-reflection, evidence for action, and as supporting documentation for CEPH accreditation and other program reviews.  Finally, this presentation will discuss how the School will incorporate lessons learned in the survey’s inaugural year to improve the tool for future use.