ASSESSMENT PLAN
A formal system of tracking alumni will be implemented immediately. |
2001-2002 ASSESSMENT
The ninth edition of the COMMFLYER.UNK, the department's alumni
newsletter, was created and will be mailed in August 2002. Graduate
Data Forms are still completed by students in the semester of their
graduation. These have proven to be invaluable in terms of being
able to locate and contact graduates to keep them informed of
immediate employment opportunities. They are also used to build the
database for alumni tracking and the newsletter mailing list.
Recently, a distribution list was created with the e-mail addresses
of the graduates. As faculty in the department are made aware of
jobs, they are forwarded to graduates on the list.
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1998-99 ASSESSMENT
The sixth edition of the COMMFLYER.UNK (formerly JMC Flyer), the department's alumni
newsletter, was created and mailed. As part of the department's assessment program (and
outlined in the 1994 - 1995 assessment report), employment surveys were mailed with the
newsletters. Surveys were sent to approximately 1,400 graduates of the combined
departments of Journalism/Mass Communication and Speech. Of these, 123 were returned. The
data gathered allowed the department to update many of the addresses of the graduates. Briefly, 83% of the graduates were able to secure
full-time employment in communications after graduation; this figure is up from 72% in the
1994 - 1995 survey. On the average it took graduates five months to secure this position
and this is a month longer than was found in the last questionnaire. Alumni stayed with
their first employer just over three years in 1994 - 1995 and the most recent respondents
stayed nearly five years. Seventy-seven percent are still employed in the communications
profession while only 53% were in the last report. Respondents reported that they have
held full-time employment in the field for an average of 14 years as compared to 7.25
years earlier. Most recently 26% went on to earn a second degree and this is up from 17
percent. In terms of Nebraska "brain drain," 80.4% of this year's graduates took
their first full-time job in the state. Seventy-nine percent reported the same five years
earlier.
Changes in length of tenure in the first
position, overall time in the profession, employment rates and the number of second or
graduate degrees earned may be a function of the recent merger of the alumni populations
of the two departments. For example, there were a number of Speech Pathology and
Communications Disorders graduates who responded to the survey and many of them, it seems,
earned graduate degrees in order to advance themselves in their professions. In the
journalism and mass communications industries, practical experience is more highly valued
than graduate course work.
Another survey exploring employment and
educational satisfaction will be administered in June of 2000. Graduate Data Forms are
still completed by students in the semester of their graduation. These have proven to be
invaluable in terms of being able to locate and contact graduates to keep them informed of
immediate employment opportunities. They are also used to build the database for alumni
tracking.
Of particular value to the department and
its constituents is the fact that many alumni typically offer information about
internships and employment possibilities at companies for which they work. Graduates also
provide information in the surveys that is useful in terms of adjusting the curricula to
reflect industry needs. At this time no changes are anticipated as a result of the data
gathered. |
