Race and Ethnicity Reporting Glossary


The Reporting on Race/Ethnicity Glossary outlines common definitions and resources for reporting on race/ethnicity and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The glossary clarifies how we report various Civil Rights Compliance terms across various submissions and dashboards at Emory University. The glossary of terms and resources is used for external and internal reporting with a focus on the US Department of Education, NSF, NIH, and OFCCP.

Following are common definitions and resources used by Emory's Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support for reporting on race, ethnicity, and non-citizen status as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Values and Definitions for Race/Ethnicity

A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community attachment.

A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.

A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely. Note: Nonresident aliens are to be reported separately in the places provided, rather than in any of the racial/ethnic categories described above.

A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States but who has been admitted as a legal immigrant for the purpose of obtaining permanent resident alien status (and who holds either an alien registration card (Form I-551 or I-151), a Temporary Resident Card (Form I-688), or an Arrival-Departure Record (Form I-94) with a notation that conveys legal immigrant status such as Section 207 Refugee, Section 208 Asylee, Conditional Entrant Parolee or Cuban-Haitian). Note: Resident aliens are to be reported in the appropriate racial/ethnic categories along with United States citizens.

"Two or more races" is a REPORTING category only and is not permissible to be used as a collection category.

The category used to report students or employees whose race and ethnicity are not known.

Definitions of Racial and Ethnic Groups

Historically underrepresented groups

Individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis; Individuals with disabilities, who are defined as those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, defined as those who meet two or more of the following criteria:

  1. Were or currently are homeless, as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act;
  2. Were or currently are in the foster care system, as defined by the Administration for Children and Families; 3. Were eligible for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program for two or more years;
  3. Have/had no parents or legal guardians who completed a bachelor's degree;
  4. Were or currently are eligible for Federal Pell grants;
  5. Received support from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) as a parent or child;
  6. Grew up in one of the following areas: (a) a S. rural area, as designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer, or (b) a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-designated Low-Income and Health Professional Shortage Areas (qualifying zip codes are included in the file). Only one of the two possibilities in No. 7 can be used as a criterion for the disadvantaged background definition.

Students from low socioeconomic (SES) status backgrounds have been shown to obtain bachelor's and advanced degrees at significantly lower rates than students from middle and high SES groups, and are subsequently less likely to be represented in biomedical research.

Women from the above backgrounds face particular challenges at the graduate level and beyond in scientific fields.

Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

HUGS is the term Emory has chosen to replace underrepresented minorities (URM) or underrepresented groups (URG).

Underrepresented minority group

Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

Emory term including individuals from the following race or ethnicity groups: American Indian, Asian, Black / African American, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and Multiracial.

People of color/faculty of color/students of color

Any respondent identified by his or her institution or self-identifying in the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey of as non-White.

COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Project

IPEDS Reference Table

These reporting categories are based on Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) race/ethnicity rollups only. By moving to race/ethnicity by detail, we will be able to disaggregate "Nonresident Alien/International" and "Two or More Races/Multiracial" into their appropriate URM/HUGS classifications based on the detail provided.

IPeds reference table example

Reporting CategoryURMHUGSMinorityPOC-FOC-SOC
Nonresident Alien/International (regardless of race)
Hispanic/Latino (regardless of race)
American Indian/Alaska Native
Asian
Black/African American
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
Race/ethnicity Unknown
Two or More Races/Multiracial
White

Additional Information

Download a copy of the reporting glossary and view common diversity, equity, and inclusion terms and definitions.