To encourage the successful outcome of efforts to recruit and include minority candidates and prospective students into the campus community, Miami participates in studies and self-studies. Studies which provide demographic data or data about minorities include:

• Data on the gender, race and ethnicity of the University's populations compiled by University Budget and Institutional Research and provided to the University Multi-cultural Council on request
• Information maintained by the Office of Equity and Equal Opportunity on job searches and hiring decisions
• College Committee on Minorities and Women's study on the progress of women and minorities

In addition, departments can  utilize the Higher Education Result Survey (HERI) survey results to assess staff sentiment on a number of topics, including perceptions of institutional climate and diversity.Many studies monitor the number of faculty, staff, and students within the University. Statistics indicate that 10.3% of faculty and 5.8% of staff are persons of color or multi-racial.

In addition, there have been surveys which attempt to assess satisfaction with University services. Information about minority concerns can be extracted from such studies as:

• An NCAA Self-Study administered to student athletes and staff
• Climate surveys in 1998 and 2000 conducted by the EAP Diversity Committee
• Satisfaction surveys conducted by Student affairs, including the College Student Survey, which assesses the satisfaction of Seniors with the University

Surveys targeted specifically at Minority students include:

• Student Health Service's interviews with students of color who have sought service
• The Climate Committee of the University Multicultural Council has conducted focus groups on university goals

Outcomes of these surveys sometimes lead to specific improvements in services. For example, a study of student staff and athletes found significant improvement in the perceptions of University Police held by minority athletes and staff over a period of several years.

Tying diversity initiatives to existing issues, concerns, and values already held by constituents at the University encourages reports which are creative, well-planned, and substantive. Among the existing issues that most members of the campus community are prepared to embrace are:

• Social justice - responding to past injustices and under-representation of minority groups
• Demographic trends - re-shaping the make-up of our faculty, staff, and student body to reflect our society's blend in terms of ethnicity, race, gender and sexual orientation
• Achieving excellence -  preparing students to excel in workplaces and communities which are becoming increasingly multicultural and diverse

Reports which detail progress towards established diversity goals should effectively speak to all members of the university community. Effective reports should:

• Recognize progress towards the goals, so that people feel that their efforts to date are appreciated.
• Provide status reports comparing result to date with outcomes desired by the University.
• Indicate areas for improvement by providing information needed to bring the department or unit into compliance with stated goals.

The University has many existing resources for assessing progress towards diversity goals. To ensure that these statistics are most effectively used to identify successes and areas for improvement, Miami must identify any gaps in statistics currently gathered, and devise mechanisms for collecting and analyzing needed information.. To facilitate comparison, Miami should identify uniform models for reporting the types of information that is included in diversity reports and annual reports within each division.