In 1968, Francis Earle Barcus and the American Alumni Council (a predecessor of CASE) published a slim paperback called Alumni Administration: A Report on the 50 Colleges Study. This book summarized the findings of a survey aimed at establishing "some meaningful data and correlations for use by alumni administrators...as the basis for better planning." Dr. Barcus identified "some important issues which clearly should be subjected to systematic, unbiased investigation."
Now we're coming up on the book's 40th anniversary...how much more do we know now? How much systematic investigation have we done?
Barcus noted that in 1968 there were "no recognized books" about alumni relations; "there are few books on college administration with more than passing reference to alumni relations; there is no body of statistical data resulting from current alumni administrative practice."
The 1968 survey, he continued, offered
an incentive for more systematic and purposeful record-keeping in alumni relations... Unfortunately, today's only measure of the effectiveness of alumni programs seems to be alumni financial support.
Fast forward to today: despite periodic contributions to specific topics, little has been published in 39 years.
Envisioning alumni futures in 1968, Barcus suggested questions that might serve later researchers:
- What criteria are used by administrators in allocating staff and funds to various alumni projects?
- How do college presidents assess and influence the managerial and creative skill of the staff?
- How effective is the association as a forum for faculty, staff, and alumni in their attempts to improve education?
- How much and what kinds of non-financial help does the institution receive through its alumni?
- How effective are we at stimulating alumni to apply their expertise as responsible citizens?
Barcus closed with this statement of faith:
Until there are more widely recognized measures of performance, we trust this report will provide background and incentive for...administrators to apply at least these tests and rigorous methods in analyzing their own programs....
We have let Dr. Barcus down. He passed away in 2003. I don't know whether he ever revisited the effort to measure alumni relations effectiveness, but if there's any good news, it's that we are on the verge of doing what he trusted us to do: asking for measurable answers about our alumni programs.
I'll talk about metrics in the next few weeks.
Notes About the Book:
- WorldCat shows just 23 copies of this book among the one billion volumes in its member libraries. I stumbled across it on the shelf at the Claremont Colleges while searching for something else.
- Data in the 1968 research effort was computed using Boston University's state of the art IBM 360 - the same model computer NASA used to handle the tracking and communications for the Apollo missions (below - click image for full size photo).
- Full Citation: Barcus, Francis Earle. Alumni Administration, With Additional Analyses of Trends in Alumni Giving at 141 Institutions; a Report of the 50 Colleges Study. [Washington: American Alumni Council, 1968.]
Photo courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation. Unauthorized use not permitted.