Purpose. The primary purposes of the 2006 Oklahoma State University survey of alumni of undergraduate programs were:

• to identify institutional strengths and areas for improvement as indicated by recent graduates;
• to track the career and continuing education trends of recent OSU graduates;
• to assess achievement of learning outcomes as perceived by alumni from individual academic programs;
• to accomplish the State Regent's mandate for assessing student and alumni satisfaction.

Population. The target population for this survey was OSU undergraduate degree recipients who graduated in 2000 and 2004. Alumni response rates for individual programs are listed in Table 1. This included all departments in the Colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources; Arts and Sciences; Engineering, Architecture, and Technology; Education; and Human Environmental Sciences; and the Spears School of Business. The total number of alumni in the target population was 6,440. The survey was conducted in January, February and March 2006; therefore, alumni were contacted approximately one and five years after graduating from OSU.

Instrument Design. The Assessment Council and the individual academic departments that participated in the survey developed the survey instrument. The first part of the survey, called the Common Questions, was given to all alumni. It included questions on current employment, continuing education, and overall satisfaction. The second part of the survey was developed by each participating academic unit and was only given to alumni of that unit. This part of the survey focused on specific aspects of the alumnus’ degree program.

Survey Administration. The survey was administered as a telephone interview. The OSU Bureau for Social Research conducted the survey telephone interviews in January, February and March 2006 and coordinated data collection. The Office of Institutional Research and Information Management, the OSU Foundation, and individual academic departments provided alumni telephone numbers. The Office of University Assessment and Testing coordinated the development of the survey instruments, efforts to obtain accurate alumni telephone numbers, data analysis, and report preparation.

Response Rate. A total of 2,628 alumni telephone interviews were completed, resulting in an overall response rate of 40.8% (Table 1). Out of the initial target population of 6,440 alumni, 2,623 alumni could not be reached because either there was no U.S. phone number available or the number was deemed ‘unreachable’ (e.g., wrong number, disconnected). After accounting for ‘unreachable’ alumni, the overall adjusted response rate was 68.8% (Table 1).

Of the total population of survey respondents,

• 26.2% were alumni from the College of Arts & Sciences
• 23.6% were alumni from the Spears School of Business
• 15.5% were alumni from the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
• 13.1% were alumni from the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology
• 12.4% were alumni from the College of Education, and
• 9.2% were alumni from the College of Human Environmental Sciences.