“Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” (Mark Twain)

Hello everyone,

This week, faculty and staff throughout The Ohio State University system received an invitation to participate in the 2010-2011 Survey. I strongly urge you to take part in this effort to measure a variety of workplace issues that impact us as university employees. Please know that each and every individual opinion counts, and that greater numbers of participants will increase our confidence in the representativeness of the survey results.

As your new Dean and Director, the results of this survey will help me to better understand our campus climate. Many of you already know that the results of the last survey (conducted approximately two years ago) provided me with some rather important insights about the OSU Mansfield campus when I was preparing to take on the responsibilities associated with my new position. That’s because I have quoted these results at various times throughout my meetings these past four weeks. Interestingly, the reactions to my having referenced the previous survey results were quite positive, yet often full of surprise (as in, “hey that’s really cool that you bothered to look at those results!”).

As soon as they are compiled and released as a report, the new results will make a further contribution to our knowledge about how well things are going here in comparison to two years ago. We can ask: What has gotten better? What has stayed the same? And what – if anything – has deteriorated? These are all questions that we can begin to answer when the results of the new survey become available.

Of course, this also means that we are creating a baseline for comparison purposes in the years ahead. If (and likely when) Ohio State decides to conduct another survey, these same kinds of questions can be posed once again, so that we might continuously gain a sense of our work environment. Someone once told me that “feedback is the breakfast of champions.” If that’s the case, then I am hoping that your opinions will help build the “morning menu” that points us toward our future success.

Therefore, sometime in the next several days, go ahead and complete this very important survey. In the meantime, please take the time to enjoy the weekend with family and friends!

Steve Gavazzi