GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – UW-Green Bay is joining the UW System in an effort to figure out where alumni are in their careers – and how they got there.
It’s called the National Alumni Career Mobility Survey. UW-Green Bay Director Career Services Linda Peacock-Landrum says it aims to gauge career and education satisfaction, knowledge and skills gained, community and civic involvement, economic mobility, degree relevance, and other measures of a UW education.
“Who went for additional degrees, if they started their own business, what about their undergraduate experience put them on their current career track?” said UW-Green Bay Director Career Services Linda Peacock-Landrum. “We are looking at graduates that are 5 years out from 2015 and graduates that are 10 years out the class of 2010.”
UW-Green Bay alumni can access the survey beginning on November 14th. Alumni will also be contacted through e-mail.
“At that particular point, we will begin to get data. Data will be collected through the end of December,” Peacock-Landrum added.
This is the first time this national survey is being conducted. Survey results are expected to be more comprehensive than “first destination” information gleaned from graduates a year out of college. Results will complement the earnings data collected by UW System from employers that showed University of Wisconsin System graduates earn a median salary of nearly $50,000 annually just a year after securing their bachelor’s degrees and more than $66,000 after five years.
Including all measures, the survey is expected to provide UW System and individual universities with a better understanding of the career and degree satisfaction of UW System alumni and an assessment of the longer-term impact of students’ education on their careers and lives. It will also equip universities with data to enhance programs and services for current and future students.
“Not only will we have comparative data within the UW system, but will also have comparative data across the entire nation,” Peacock-Landrum told WTAQ News. “We’re looking at the data that will help us shape programs moving forward as well as identify clear strategies that would improve the student success.”
While Peacock-Landrum and other university officials have an idea of what some students are currently doing, they’re encouraging everyone to participate in the survey.
“So that the data is collected there, versus independent data that had been shared with me just because I had kept track with the student,” Peacock-Landrum said.
The survey will take place through Dec. 31, 2020 and include more than 46,000 undergraduate alumni from all 13 UW System institutions. It will be conducted under contract by the Career Leadership Collective.
Survey results are expected to be available in mid-2021.