In the spring of 2002, Harvey Mudd College administered its latest alumni survey containing more than 70 questions about various aspects of the HMC experience. Twelve hundred fifty-six alumni (30 percent) completed the survey, providing data that has since been used both for institutional and programmatic assessment and improvement.

Institutional Assessment and Improvement    
Writing Skills    
Understanding the Impact of Technical Work
Program Assessment and Improvement    
Final Notes

Institutional Assessment and Improvement    
In its presentation to the faculty in the fall of 2002, the Assessment Committee highlighted several key findings—related to writing skills, oral presentation skills, problem-solving skills, the ability to learn independently, understanding the impact of technical work on society and the ability to function in an intercultural context—from the Alumni Survey, along with data from two national student surveys (the National Survey of Student Engagement and the Higher Education Research Institute [HERI] College Student Survey). Faculty response to the presentation led to additional discussions by key campus committees, which then sponsored special faculty meetings on specific curricular issues. 

Writing Skills    
Faculty were concerned about the fact that only 21.5 percent of alumni reported that an emphasis on writing skills was “very much” present while they were at HMC—a finding consistent with the results of the National Survey of Student Engagement and the HERI College Student Survey. Both of those surveys showed that less than 20 percent of HMC seniors reported strong gains in writing skills.        

In response, the HMC Curriculum Committee, the Teaching & Learning Committee, and the Assessment Committee co-sponsored a special faculty meeting on student writing, where data from the Alumni Survey and National Survey of Student Engagement were presented and analyzed by major. In addition, writing requirements for each of the majors were presented.

Taken together, the data showed that in majors requiring more writing alumni reported more of an emphasis on writing skills, and seniors were more likely to report their college experience contributed to writing clearly and effectively.  Those findings suggested to faculty that improving writing instruction and providing more opportunities for students to write would increase the likelihood that students gained strong writing skills.    

Much of the rest of the meeting was devoted to brainstorming possible ways to accomplish just that. Suggestions generated included: requiring students to take one course in their technical major designated as writing intensive, including essay questions on exams (graded for writing); holding a faculty workshop on writing instruction and evaluation; and distributing a writing handbook to first-year students that would be used in both technical and humanities and social science courses. The latter two ideas have already been implemented.

Understanding the Impact of Technical Work on Society and Functioning in an Intercultural Context    
Also of concern to faculty was the fact that very few alumni (12.4 percent) reported that their experiences at HMC “very much” helped them develop an awareness of the impact of their work on society. Even fewer alumni (5.9 percent) reported that an emphasis on relating to people from different backgrounds was “very much” present while they were at HMC.     

To address those concerns, the Curriculum Committee developed a proposal for a Horizontally Integrated Core Curriculum. In the proposal, all Core courses, in addition to technical content, would include instruction related to one specific skill (writing, oral communication, teamwork, leadership or project management) and one contextual understanding—either understanding the impact of technical work on society or understanding cultural differences. Faculty overwhelmingly approved the proposal, and the new Core Curriculum was implemented in Fall 2003.

Program Assessment and Improvement    
In response to increased assessment requirements by external accrediting agencies, Harvey Mudd College established a system of periodic, outcomes-based program reviews, with at least one department preparing a self-study and hosting external reviewers each year. Because the Department of Engineering was due for an ABET accreditation visit in 2003-2004, it was the first program to develop an assessment process for such a review.         

The engineering department examined individual items on the Alumni Survey and matched selected items with departmental goals for students. Relevant data for engineering majors suggested that the department was achieving many of its goals. Specifically, the majority of engineering alumni reported that their experiences at HMC had prepared them for their career and that high-quality courses in their major were present while they were at HMC.     

However, on other dimensions the responses of engineering alumni were less positive. For example, only eight percent of recent engineering alumni reported that their experiences at HMC “very much” helped them develop an awareness of the impact of their work on society. Because this item was directly related to one of the departmental goals, “To produce graduates who are fully aware of the impact of their work on society, both nationally and globally,” the engineering faculty were concerned by the findings.    

As a result, the department worked with representatives from the Alumni Board of Governors to recruit HMC alumni to be speakers in the Engineering Seminar and to explicitly address either ethical issues or the impact of engineering work on society in their talks.     

Although the Department of Mathematics is not accredited by a professional organization, it was eager to undergo program review to assess the effectiveness of both curricular and personnel changes that had taken place over the past 10 years. As in the Engineering Department, a key component of the math department’s assessment process was to examine responses from math alumni to key questions on the Alumni Survey.    

Many of those responses affirmed the success of changes the department had made. For example, recent graduates from the Math department were significantly more likely than earlier graduates to report that an emphasis on oral communication, an emphasis on working as part of a team and opportunities for undergraduate research were present while they were at HMC.    

In addition, an overwhelming majority of math alumni reported that their experiences at HMC prepared them for their career and that high-quality courses in their major were present. However, the department was disappointed by the fact that Math alumni were significantly less likely than biology and chemistry majors to report that an emphasis on writing skills was present while they were at HMC. As a result, the department began exploring ways of incorporating more writing into courses in the major.    

Other departments, including Physics and Humanities & Social Sciences, also intended to utilize data from the Alumni Survey to improve their programs and curriculum.

Final Notes
It should be clear from the above examples that HMC is making good use of the results of the Alumni Survey for assessing the achievement of college goals and improving educational experiences for HMC students. But those are not the only ways the data have been used. Key findings have been presented to the Board of Trustees and in the HMC Bulletin. In addition, the Office of Admission began incorporating open-ended responses from the survey into promotional materials, and Public Relations planned on revising portions of the HMC website to include both quantitative findings and open-ended responses from the survey. If you have any other ideas about how to analyze the Alumni Survey data or use the results, the college would like to hear from you. Contact the Alumni Office at alumni@hmc.edu or (909) 621-8342.