BACKGROUND: Academic public health was challenged in 2020 to become explicitly anti-racist in our institutions. The Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (SPHTM) convened an anti-racism taskforce (ART) in the summer of 2020 to examine internal processes. One committee was tasked to develop an equity scorecard to assess how the school has performed in a variety of metrics and to identify areas that need improvement.

METHODS: The committee was formed after an anti-racism town hall held by the Dean in the summer of 2020. The committee used the equity-minded framework developed by the Center for Urban Education to guide the development of the scorecard. We identified metrics to review trends for applicants, admitted students, and enrolled students disaggregated by race, ethnicity and sex. For enrolled students, metrics include attrition, GPA, graduation rates, receipt of financial scholarships, graduate or teaching assistant employment, student leadership and graduation awards by race, ethnicity, and sex. Faculty and staff ranks, salaries, promotion, and leadership positions were assessed. We will also examine alumni survey data for first jobs and satisfaction with the school.

RESULTS: Accessing data proved to be challenging for all sources, even those maintained electronically by the university. For example, student data on race and ethnicity was initially combined into one variable and had to be downloaded from a separate database, human resources data was incomplete at first, and financial aid data was provided in a format that required restructuring to be useful. Information was not documented systematically and some data was extracted from paper files and email. Each student had a unique numeric identifier but not all targeted information was tied to this identifier in consistent form.

CONCLUSION: Historical data systems were not set up to track all relevant information which made the process more time-intensive. We benefited from faculty expertise in managing and analyzing data and cooperation from various offices. But this data gathering process and setting up new data bases will make it easier to continuously monitor equity to achieve our goal of being the most diverse school of public health.