By Kate McGuire
Staff Writer
A new national survey reveals that Baylor alumni believe Baylor is an excellent school and top in quality education.
Last fall, 609 alumni were asked to describe their experience of Baylor University and their time here, said John Barry, Baylor’s vice president of marketing and communications.
The results from the survey reflect what Baylor alunmi believe they need from Baylor and what they can give to Baylor.
Interviews were conducted from a sample of 4,494 random telephone numbers from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
The response rate from alumni was around 25 percent.
Barry said the four main things alumni are concerned with is how to stay connected to Baylor events, what Baylor is currently doing, how the Baylor Alumni Network is advancing the university and how alumni can best help the students.
Fifty-two percent of Baylor alumni who responded to the survey said it was very important for alumni to help support Baylor. As a result of this response, Barry said a goal for Baylor Alumni Network is to connect alumni to students through different engagement opportunities such as scholarships.
A new idea is to establish a mentoring experience for students from the help and influence of alumni.
“The alumni beg the question if we are doing the best we can to connect them to these things,” Barry said.
He said he believes that by collecting data from alumni, the Baylor Alumni Network can find better opportunities to provide their alumni connections to the university.
The collecting of this data is important for Baylor because it gathers opinions on matters on keeping alumni up to date with campus news and connecting them to the students, said Jeff Kilgore, vice president of the Baylor Alumni Association.
Of the Baylor alumni who responded, 98 percent have felt a special or strong bond to Baylor since graduation and more Texans are likely to say they have a strong bond with Baylor.
Of the respondents, 72 percent currently reside in Texas, about 54 percent were women and only about 10 percent have children who are able to attend college. 53 percent were non-Baptist Christians.
Barry started doing research 12 years ago at the University of Connecticut to study public opinion and has found the results to be helpful in determining what alumni want from the Baylor Alumni Network.
Once he began working at Baylor, he commissioned a national survey be taken of Baylor alumni of all ages.
The first survey began in 2007 and this is the second survey conducted since.
“Public opinion can be used as teaching tools,” Barry said. “I’ve always thought that it’s our responsibility to collect data to understand public opinion. The point is to find what alumni think of the university, what they want and measure that against what we’re doing.”
For a full report on the national survey, visit https://www.baylor.edu/alumni/doc.php/193441.pdf
