Data-Informed DEI: Improving Data Literacy to Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

• View the Data-Informed DEI overview slides
• Watch the QI Info Session Recording
• Meet the Quality Initiative Leadership team and Advisory Committee

Wayne State University, Michigan's most diverse public university, has set an ambitious goal to become the leading research university for social mobility in the United States. The Data-Informed DEI Quality Initiative project will advance our progress toward this goal by helping us identify and address barriers to educational equity. By promoting data literacy throughout the campus, we aim to equip our faculty, staff, and administrators with the tools to design data-informed strategies aimed at closing the gap in educational outcomes among students and enhancing academic achievement for all.

Overview of our proposed Data-Informed DEI Quality Initiative project (2024-26)

Project Components:

1. Data Mapping & Needs Analysis: A foundational data resource inventory will be conducted to assess current DEI data accessibility and utilization practices across the campus. This step will unveil available data resources, highlight gaps, and pinpoint the additional data required for informed decision-making.

2. Building Data Literacy Across Campus: A select group of thirty campus-wide individuals will attend the Association for Institutional Research's (AIR) Data Literacy Institute (DLI) to deepen institutional connections and enhance data literacy. Post-institute, these DLI teams will spearhead the development of workshops and resources to elevate data literacy for the entire campus community.

3. Designing Data-Informed Interventions: The insights gained from DLI will empower us to deploy data strategically to illuminate student success and equity gaps. Armed with this knowledge, we will refine our processes, craft targeted improvement initiatives, and accurately measure their impact.

Overview of WSU's previous HLC Quality Initiative

Click here to download a copy of the full 2016 Quality Initiative Report

In its 2016 HLC Quality Initiative (QI), Wayne State University implemented three key components of the Undergraduate Academic Advising Initiative:

1. Completion of Academic Advisor Hiring, in which WSU hired more than 45 academic advisors and other academic support personnel, dramatically improving the student-advisor ratio.
2. Implementation of an Academic Advising Training Academy (ATA), which supports academic advisor training for content, skills, and dispositional outcomes, and continuing professional development. The ATA is comprised of a core curriculum and a certificate program built on advisor and student learning outcomes, other professional development activities, and support for the Academic Advising Council.
3. Development and deployment of online tools to support academic advising, including an advisor scheduling system, online declaration of major/program, and an improved degree audit system. We also piloted an advisor alert system: the Early Warning System.