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Degree satisfaction and likelihood of giving: A survey of professional school millennial alumni
Journal of Education Advancement & Marketing,
3
(4),
389-400
(2019)
Abstract
An online survey of millennials who graduated from a large southeastern US university’s college of journalism and communication between 2004 and 2016 (N = 664) was conducted to study how experiences that alumni remember from their student years, including engagement with faculty outside of class, extracurricular activities and career support relate to alumni degree satisfaction and likelihood of giving back to the programme. Degree utility, faculty engagement and career support all significantly related to degree satisfaction and likelihood of giving. Additional analyses suggest models for a relationship marketing approach in future research and practice. Recommendations include managing programmes in a way that enhances student experiences in identified areas such as faculty engagement and career services, developing message appeals to alumni that remind them of professionally relevant and satisfying experiences that they had when they were in school and testing/refining those messages to ensure they reinforce a healthy cycle of programme development.
Keywords: degree utility; faculty engagement; degree satisfaction; relationship marketing; alumni giving
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Margaret Gaylord is Senior Director of Development and Alumni Affairs at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (CJC). She earned her BS in advertising from the CJC in 1984 and returned for her MA in advertising in 2017. As Senior Director of Development, Margaret leads a team of development officers focused on increasing financial support for the college’s students, faculty and facility enhancement. As a double graduate of the CJC, she is passionate about connecting the college’s alumni with the mission of the college: providing unparalleled educational and immersion opportunities for students, ensuring they will be leaders in their chosen field. Margaret began her 20-year development career in 1998 as the Director of Stewardship and Development for the Queen of Peace Catholic Community in Gainesville. She joined the University of Florida in 2004 as Director of Development with the Colleges of Education and Medicine. In 2008 she began working for the Warrington College of Business as the Director of Development and Alumni Affairs.
Tom Kelleher is Professor and Chair of the Department of Advertising in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. Tom joined the UF faculty in 2014. He had been a member of the faculty at the University of Hawaii for 12 years and served as Chair of the School of Communications there from 2010 to 2013. He also served on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2004 to 2006. He has designed and taught 22 different courses at three flagship state universities (Florida, North Carolina and Hawaii) and has published in numerous journals including Journal of Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Public Relations Research and Journal of Mass Media Ethics. His research interests are strategic communication, digital and social media, media ethics and teaching and learning with online media. In 2018, Oxford University Press published his second book, Public Relations, an introductory textbook that covers fundamentals with organic integration of practical ethics and digital, social and mobile technologies. He has worked in university relations at the University of Florida; science communication at NASA in Huntsville, Alabama and agency public relations at Ketchum in Atlanta.
