The Alumni Survey addressed several issues that indicate how the experiences our alumni had at CSUDH affected their personal development in a variety of ways.
A healthy university experience can provide students with opportunities to think of new possibilities for their future plans, both personally and professionally. The results of the Alumni Survey shows that half (53.3%) of our alumni respondents indicated that their personal or professional aspirations changed as a consequence of their educational experiences at CSUDH. This is a remarkable outcome that is consistent among the different degree levels and is consistent when comparing the subpopulation that graduated over five years ago with the subpopulation graduating more recently. It is slightly less the case for Distance Learning respondents (46.9%) compared to these other two subpopulations. A review of the ratings by ethnic group shows that there were some differences between Hispanics (63.4%), African Americans (57.1%), Asian/Pacific Islanders (52.4%), and Whites (48.9%). All of these results should be considered impressive and have the potential of measuring the value added for alumni who attended CSUDH. Although far from conclusive, the data also suggest that there may be differences between ethnic groups. Given the extraordinary diversity of CSUDH, the campus is devoted to being responsive equally to the needs of all ethnic groups. The results described suggest potential differential responses to this item which should not be ignored.
A third (34%) of our alumni respondents either “strongly agreed,” or “agreed” that their experiences at CSUDH encouraged them to become more involved in community volunteer work. The results were fairly consistent for all degree levels. When comparing subpopulations, it was somewhat less true of Distance Learning respondents (25.7%) than was the case for respondents from the other subpopulations of newer alumni (35.5%) and those graduating over five years ago (34.9%). There were also some differences between ethnic groups. Particularly, African-Americans showed the highest level of agreement (40.1%), followed by Asian/Pacific Islander (38.7%), then Hispanics (35.3%), and finally Whites (30.5%). Therefore, what we can surmise from these results is that this very positive effect that CSUDH has on people seems to hold true regardless of the degree level earned, how long ago they graduated, or their ethnic background.
Close to 60% of all alumni respondents felt that their experiences at CSUDH helped them to become more aware of social and/or political issues. There were only very slight differences by degree level. The largest differences by subpopulation were between Distance Learning Alumni (51.5%) and alumni that graduated within the last five years (62.4%). Most of the identified ethnic groups responded quite similarly, with the exception that Whites (56.2%) showed slightly less agreement than did African-Americans (65.4%), Hispanics (63.2%), or Asian/Pacific Islanders (61.4%). It is fair to conclude that; overall, the CSUDH experience benefited our alumni’s social and/or political awareness in fairly consistent ways, regardless of their degree level, ethnic background or when they earned their degree.
Respondents were asked to rate each item in a list of various campus experiences in terms of their importance to their personal development. Based on the highest rating on a three point scale (“very important”), it is possible to compare the relative importance of each item. Those who did not have experience in any of the items were directed to mark, “Not Applicable.”
There were a set of personal development items that were experienced by the vast majority of alumni respondents. These will be reported initially. Courses in the major/degree program were very important to 69.7% of the respondents. About half of the respondents in each of the following items provided a “very important” rating: interactions of people of diverse backgrounds (55.0%), interactions with faculty (53.4%), interactions with fellow students (50.0%), academic advising (49.4%), and interactions with staff (48.8%).
Some items experienced by fewer respondents were rated very important. In fact, they were often rated as higher than most of the commonly experienced items described above. For instance, less than half of the respondents experienced an internship, yet 61.5% of those that did thought it was very important to their personal development. Even fewer participated in student teaching experiences, yet 61.5% considered the experience important to their career success. This is particularly the case since many of these respondents were students interested in teaching careers. Fieldwork was experienced by half of the respondents and was considered very important by 58.8%. There has been much discussion on this campus about the number of programs that require a minor. The results from this survey show that half (49.9%) of those that took a minor thought it was very important to their personal development.
The degree to which respondents considered courses important to their personal development differed according to the type of courses taken. For instance, courses in the major/degree program were given “very important” ratings by more respondents (69.7%) than were courses in the minor (45.2%) or other courses outside of their major in the general education curriculum (40.9%).
Overall, these results show that the academic areas of their specific interests of study were the most important things that these respondents remember about their university experience. In fact, the three items that were rated the least important to their personal development were the non-academic campus life areas involving student organizations (23.6%), intercollegiate athletics/intramural sports (23%), and student government (20.4%).