Alumni Data for Program Evaluation, Policy Analysis, and Accountability

Abstract

Research on alumni has traditionally been used to enhance fundraising activities. Increasingly, though, universities and their academic programs need information about alumni -- such as where they live, their income levels, whether they are employed or enrolled in educational programs, and how much they value their degree -- to support program assessment and public accountability needs.

The Alumni Profiles project, a collaborative effort by the office of Academic Planning and Analysis and the Wisconsin Alumni Association, is an attempt to gather a richer set of information about UW-Madison alumni. Information of interest is gathered through a small set of essential questions embedded in the "directory update" section of the Wisconsin Alumni Association website. The resulting dataset is aggregated annually into an alumni profile for each undergraduate major and is made available to users both inside and outside the university.

Jocelyn Milner will lead a discussion about the Alumni Profiles project, including potential uses, shortcomings, and possible improvements.