Administration

Faculty, staff and students: let your voice be heard

Survey, set to launch Oct. 4, seeks input on improving Penn State as place to learn and work

On Oct. 4, Penn State faculty, staff, technical service employees, students, postdoctoral scholars and fellows will begin receiving email invitations from Virginia-based Ethics Research Center asking for their participation in the 2017 Penn State Values and Culture Survey. Credit: L. Reidar Jensen / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- On Oct. 4, Penn State faculty, staff, technical service employees, students, postdoctoral scholars and fellows will begin receiving email invitations from Virginia-based Ethics Research Center asking for their participation in the 2017 Penn State Values and Culture Survey.

This survey is a follow-up to the 2013 Values and Culture Survey. It is designed to help University leadership gain a fuller understanding of the experiences of the people who learn and work at Penn State every day. The end result will be a better understanding of the community’s awareness of University standards of conduct; perceptions of misconduct at the University; and a clearer picture of the culture at Penn State, particularly when it comes to community members’ actual and perceived ability to report wrongdoing without the threat of retaliation. The results will help University leaders to focus ongoing efforts to provide an open, ethical environment for learning and work at Penn State.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FORTHCOMING SURVEY: Visit https://universityethics.psu.edu/ethical-culture-initiatives for answers to frequently asked questions.

This 15-20 minute survey will help measure our progress and effectiveness of initiatives developed in response to areas of particular concern voiced by those who took the 2013 survey.

The survey is completely anonymous. The Ethics Research Center (ERC) – the research division of the Ethics and Compliance Initiative, a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Va. – will distribute the survey and collect data from participants. ERC will conduct the survey in a manner that protects the identities of all participants. Responses will be aggregated and only summary data will be provided to Penn State. ERC will be the only ones who have access to the data. If there are less than 20 participants of any demographic group on a question, ERC will not report information on that question to Penn State.

“Your participation in this survey makes a difference,” said Regis Becker, chief ethics and compliance officer at Penn State. “Leadership takes your input very seriously and we can't continue to change for the better without you. This new survey will help direct further initiatives."

ERC will deliver an executive summary of the findings in the spring, and Penn State will publish the document when it is available.

Last Updated October 23, 2017

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