Total quality management (TQM) was employed to improve the collection, storage, and use of racial/ethnic information at Cornell University. The initiative began with the task of standardizing ethnic codes across a number of university systems. The project to improve race/ethnicity reporting was undertaken by a team representing various university offices. The work of the team and issues encountered are discussed, with attention to a seven-step problem-solving methodology. This approach involved: (1) identifying the problem, (2) breaking into smaller segments to determine where improvement is needed, (3) identifying root causes of the problem and potential corrective actions, (4) planning steps to reduce the problem's severity, (5) reexamining the indicator and assessing efficacy of countermeasures, (6) preventing recurrences of the problem, and (7) reviewing what has been learned and possible applications to other problems. After implementing two of three proposed countermeasures, the incidence of unreported racial/ethnic data among entering freshmen was reduced from approximately 15 percent to less than 5 percent. Initial barriers are also noted, which resulted from team members' not having a shared perspective and understanding of the infrastructure surrounding racial/ethnic student data. A questionnaire for obtaining information on race/ethnicity is appended. (Contains 12 references, 5 tables and 5 figures.) (SW)