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Effective engagement of minority alumni: an innovation study

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Content Running head: MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 1

Effective Engagement of Minority Alumni:
An Innovation Study
by
Amartya Kumar Ray

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

August 2019

Copyright 2019 Amartya Kumar Ray
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 2
Dedication
To my father, Prof. Prasanta K. Ray (1941–2018), who was not able to see me graduate.
However, wherever he is, he is beaming with pride with the knowledge that both of his children
completed their doctoral degrees. For someone who was the child of refugees and was uprooted
from his ancestral home in Bangladesh at 7 years old, that is a remarkable legacy. His tenacity,
drive, and ambition gave me the opportunities that I enjoy today.
To my mother, Khana Ray, who spent countless hours pushing me to work harder and
hone my abilities. She is the source of my values and the person I am today.
To my daughter, Sonali Ray, whose sense of wonder and curiosity fuels my drive to be
the best father I can be.
To my wife, Jessica Ray, without whom none of this would be possible. Her patience,
support, and encouragement have meant the world to me. I am blessed to have her in my life, and
by my side, for all my pursuits. This accomplishment is as much hers as it is my own.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 3
Acknowledgements
This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of several
individuals. My grateful thanks and appreciation to all those who continue the work of pursuing
equal rights, justice, access, opportunity, and freedom for every single person around this
country. May we all look back at this time in our history not as one that eroded the hard-fought
gains of the civil rights era but rather as the moment that served as a catalyst to achieve greater
access and opportunity for all people of color.
I am also grateful for the efforts and encouragement of my dissertation committee chair,
Dr. Kimberly Hirabayashi. Without Dr. H.’s constant guidance, throughout this program, I would
have been lost in the wilderness. I am also appreciative of Dr. Cathy Krop and Dr. Wayne
Combs, who served on my committee and who contributed immensely with their thoughtful
suggestions and enthusiastic support.
To my close friends and colleagues from the past and present, especially from the Red
Sox family: your constant help and support for everything in my life is a debt that I can never
fully repay. You are all simply amazing. My deepest appreciation, and admiration, to my
remarkable classmates and faculty members from the Harvard Extension School and the Harvard
Graduate School of Education, where I pursued my two master’s degrees. You drove me to
greater intellectual heights and gave me the confidence to pursue this doctorate.
Finally, my most heartfelt thanks to all my classmates from Cohort Seven of the
University of Southern California – Rossier School of Education’s Organizational Change and
Leadership Doctoral Program. So many of us juggled home, work, life, and school all at the
same time and showed that if we put our hearts and minds to it, anything is possible.
Cohort Seven, we did it!
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 4

Table of Contents
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... 2
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 3
List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. 7
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 8
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 9
Introduction to Problem of Practice .............................................................................................. 10
Organizational Context and Mission ............................................................................................ 10
Importance of the Organizational Innovation ............................................................................... 11
Purpose of the Project and Questions ........................................................................................... 12
Organizational Performance Goal ................................................................................................. 13
Stakeholder Group of Focus and Stakeholder Goal ...................................................................... 13
Review of the Literature ............................................................................................................... 15
Alumni Engagement in Higher Education ................................................................................ 16
Types of alumni engagement. ............................................................................................... 16
The channels of alumni engagement. .................................................................................... 17
Benefits of Alumni Engagement ............................................................................................... 18
Benefits for alumni. .............................................................................................................. 18
Benefits for institutions. ........................................................................................................ 19
Factors Affecting Minority Alumni Engagement ..................................................................... 19
Diversification of college student bodies. ............................................................................. 20
Relationship of minority alumni with their alma mater. ....................................................... 20
Adjustment of Alumni Engagement Channels to Appeal to Minority Alumni ........................ 22
Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences ............................................................... 23
The Clark and Estes Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework ..................................................... 23
Knowledge Influences .............................................................................................................. 24
Barriers preventing minority alumni engagement and identifying best practices
to overcome them. ................................................................................................................. 25
Self-reflection of staff. .......................................................................................................... 28
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 5

Motivation Influences ............................................................................................................... 30
Understanding the value of minority engagement. ............................................................... 32
Staff need to believe in their ability to effect change. .......................................................... 33
Organizational Influences ......................................................................................................... 34
Cultural model: Valuing engagement with minority alumni and acknowledging past
historical injustices. ............................................................................................................... 35
Cultural setting: Having a diverse alumni relations staff and alumni volunteer leaders. ..... 37
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Staff Knowledge and Motivation with
Organizational Context ................................................................................................................. 39
Qualitative Data Collection........................................................................................................... 41
Documents and Artifacts........................................................................................................... 41
Interviews .................................................................................................................................. 43
Data Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 44
Findings......................................................................................................................................... 44
Knowledge Findings ..................................................................................................................... 45
Knowledge of Barriers Preventing Minority Alumni Engagement .......................................... 46
Knowledge of Self-Reflection .................................................................................................. 49
Motivation Findings ...................................................................................................................... 52
The Value of Minority Engagement ......................................................................................... 52
Self-Efficacy ............................................................................................................................. 54
Organization Findings ................................................................................................................... 57
Cultural Model: Valuing Minority Alumni Engagement and Acknowledging Past
Historical Injustices .................................................................................................................. 57
Cultural Setting: Having a Diverse Alumni Relations Staff and Alumni Volunteer Bodies .... 64
Solutions and Recommendations .................................................................................................. 69
Knowledge Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 69
Conceptual knowledge. ............................................................................................................. 70
Metacognitive knowledge. ........................................................................................................ 71
Motivation Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 72
Self-Efficacy. ............................................................................................................................ 74
Value. ........................................................................................................................................ 75
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 6

Organization Recommendations ................................................................................................... 75
Cultural models ......................................................................................................................... 77
Cultural settings ........................................................................................................................ 79
Limitations and Delimitations....................................................................................................... 80
Recommendations for Future Research ........................................................................................ 82
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 83
Appendix A: Document and Artifact Sampling and Protocol ...................................................... 84
Appendix B: Interview Sampling and Guide ................................................................................ 86
Appendix C: Participant Information Sheet .................................................................................. 91
Appendix D: Credibility and Trustworthiness .............................................................................. 92
Appendix E: Ethics ....................................................................................................................... 94
Appendix F: Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan ...................................................... 96

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 7

List of Tables

Table 1. Organizational Mission, Global Goal, and Stakeholder Performance Goals ..................15
Table 2. Knowledge Influences, Types, and Assessments for Knowledge Gap Analysis .............30
Table 3. Motivational Influences, Types, and Assessments for Motivation Gap Analysis ...........34
Table 4. Organizational Influences and Organizational Influence Assessments ...........................38
Table 5. Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations ...........................................70
Table 6. Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations ............................................74
Table 7. Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations ........................................77
Table F-1. Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes .......................99
Table F-2. Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation ............................100
Table F-3. Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors ........................................................102
Table F-4. Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program .....................................105
Table F-5. Components to Measure Reactions to the Program ...................................................106
Table F-6. Immediate Feedback Survey ......................................................................................107
Table F-7. Delayed Feedback Survey ..........................................................................................108
Table F-8. Evaluation of Organizational Changes and Readiness of Staff Training ...................109
Modules to Increase Minority Alumni Engagement at the ECUAA

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 8

List of Figures

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................40

Figure F-1. The New World Kirkpatrick Model ............................................................................97

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 9

Abstract

This study examined the knowledge, motivation, and organizational process gaps that
would prevent East Coast University Alumni Association (ECUAA) staff from implementing an
innovative minority alumni engagement program. Data collection for this study included
document analysis of alumni communications and in-depth interviews with a cross section of
staff members within the ECUAA. The resulting data was coded, categorized, and organized by
themes for analysis. Findings for knowledge gaps showed the staff did not always have the
opportunity to adopt best practices in place to overcome barriers to minority alumni engagement
and that staff members might not have enough formal chances to practice self-reflection.
Motivation gap findings showed that there was a gap between staff members’ own understanding
of the value of minority alumni engagement and what they perceived as the organization’s
commitment to the goal and that self-doubts existed among staff about creating change and
implementing new programs. Organizational culture related findings reflected that while
leadership had good intentions, there was a conflict between honoring past legacy and looking to
the future and that there was a feeling that the leadership took steps to engage minority alumni
more for appearances rather than to create meaningful change. The study suggested several
recommendations, ranging from creating a strategic plan to implementing targeted training
programs and creating opportunities to learn from peer institutions, which would address the
issues that were preventing staff from effectively implementing innovative plans to engage
ECUAA’s minority alumni.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 10

Effective Engagement of Minority Alumni: An Innovation Study
Introduction to Problem of Practice
Engaging minority alumni has become an important goal for many U.S. higher education
institutions. The college alumni population is becoming increasingly diverse, and many
institutions depend on their alumni to professionally support current students, act as peer
resources for each other, and financially support the institution itself through philanthropy.
However, a number of challenges prevents effective engagement of minority alumni and the
ability of the institution to create a strong relationship between alumni and their alma mater
(Cauda, 2014). Gasman and Bowman III (2013) reported that low diversity within the
philanthropic and alumni engagement workforce in U.S. higher education led to lower
engagement with minority alumni for these institutions. The authors also reported that the lower
engagement of minority alumni with their institutions manifested in several ways, including
lower volunteerism on alumni boards and committees by minorities, lower rates of fundraising
from minority alumni, and lower participation in events and other opportunities by minority
alumni. Cauda (2014) also reported that the failure to engage minority alumni results in lower
rates of emotional connection of alumni to their undergraduate institutions and a lower rate of
philanthropic giving from diverse alumni groups.
Organizational Context and Mission
The East Coast University Alumni Association (ECUAA, pseudonym) is the official
alumni body that represents all 350,000 living alumni of East Coast University (ECU). Its
members include recipients of all degrees awarded by the university, those who completed
executive education programs, and faculty members throughout the university (organization
website, n.d.). The ECUAA’s mission is to create and offer programs and events that engage
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 11

100% of ECU’s alumni. The ECUAA achieves this mission by engaging alumni through
activities around the world, which are organized by alumni clubs and affinity-based groups. The
ECUAA also creates a network of relationships with, and between, alumni by supporting class
reunion events, offering lifelong education programs, providing professional and personal
networking services, and organizing travel programs with members of the faculty.
ECUAA’s programs and activities are supported by a staff of approximately 45 (at the
time of this study there were multiple vacancies) individuals from their offices in a large U.S.
East Coast city. For the context of this problem statement, this study focuses on staff needs and
preparedness to implement new and innovative minority alumni engagement programs for
ECUAA’s future. For purposes of this study, the term “minority” only considers racial and/or
ethnic minorities and categorizes ECUAA’s racial and/or ethnic minority alumni into four
groups: Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Native Americans, and Asian
Americans/Native Hawaiian Americans.
Importance of the Organizational Innovation
At ECU, the percentage of minority representation of the incoming classes from 2013
through 2018 has been steadily increasing to over 50% for the most recent two incoming classes.
Given that ECU has a 98% graduation rate, most of these students will graduate and become
alumni, which will increasingly diversify the alumni body. Therefore, the organization needs to
introduce new and improved alumni engagement programs, specifically geared toward minority
alumni, to successfully engage minority members of recent graduating classes. Failure to do so
would result in the ECUAA’s failing in its core mission to create a lifelong relationship with the
university and with 100% of its alumni. The larger ECU alumni network will also suffer through
the unavailability of a large group of recent graduates with whom to network. ECU’s admissions
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 12

goals mirror those of a number of private institutions who wish to create highly diversified
classes through a race-conscious admissions process (Bowen & Bok, 1998). If such alumni are
not engaged to the university beyond graduation, then the spirit of that goal is extinguished once
students leave campus after 4 years. Therefore, new and specific minority alumni engagement
plans have the potential to help ECU maintain its connection with all students who have attended
the institution, regardless of racial background, while providing lifelong benefits and support to
them. In time, the overall alumni body is strengthened through proactive engagement with all
alumni.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project was to study staff needs and preparedness to implement new
and innovative minority alumni engagement programs for ECUAA’s future. The analysis
focused on knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences related to achieving the
organizational goals. While a complete performance evaluation would have to focus on all
stakeholders, for practical purposes, this evaluation considered the ECUAA staff members its
primary stakeholders.
As such, the questions that guided this study were as follows:
1. What is the ECUAA staff members’ knowledge and motivation related to implementing
new minority engagement programs by December 2019 to specifically increase the
engagement of minority alumni and help achieve this organizational goal?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context and ECUAA staff
members’ knowledge and motivation related to implementing new minority engagement
programs by December 2019 to specifically increase the engagement of minority alumni?
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 13

3. What are the recommendations for ECUAA in the areas of knowledge, motivation, and
organizational resources related to implementing new minority engagement programs by
December 2019 to specifically increase the engagement of minority alumni?
Organizational Performance Goal
ECUAA’s mission was to create and offer programs and events that engage 100% of
ECU’s alumni. To meet the standard of 100% alumni engagement, it follows that ECUAA’s
organizational performance goal must also include aspirations to achieve 100% minority alumni
engagement. The ECUAA defined alumni engagement in three ways: participation in ECU
alumni events and programs; maintaining communication with ECU by electronic means, by
phone, or by mail; and volunteerism on the ECUAA board, its committees, or subcommittees.
This study focused on staff needs and preparedness to implement new and innovative
minority alumni engagement programs for ECUAA’s future. ECUAA’s general alumni
engagement programs had not changed significantly in recent years. Programs geared toward
minority alumni focused on affinity-based groups supported in-kind by the ECUAA and
opportunities to connect during class reunions. A thorough analysis will provide guidance on
how best to support ECUAA staff to implement and sustain new minority engagement programs
that remain relevant, and useful, for the ECUAA to meet 100% minority alumni engagement.
Stakeholder Group of Focus and Stakeholder Goal
The stakeholder groups involved in this study included the leadership of the ECUAA, the
staff of the ECUAA, and the alumni of East Coast University (ECU). The leadership must ensure
that it is providing the staff with the resources, training, and strategic guidance they need to
achieve ECUAA’s performance goal. The staff of the ECUAA must design, create, and
implement new and innovative engagement programs, events, and avenues for alumni, with a
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 14

specific focus on minority alumni, to engage with the university. The quality and quantity of any
subsequent engagement of the alumni with the ECUAA’s offerings will show the progress the
ECUAA will have made toward its performance goal. While a full analysis of the ECUAA’s
programs and offerings for its alumni, and their effectiveness in engaging those alumni, would
have involved all the above stakeholder groups, this study focused specifically on the ECUAA
staff. The staff are the primary stakeholder group responsible for the creation and
implementation of any new programs. They are also the group that interacts directly with both
the alumni and the leadership. Focusing on the staff helped determine both their effectiveness in
working with the alumni and whether they were receiving the full support, training, and
resources from ECUAA leadership to be successful in their work.
The ECUAA staff performed the critical functions that enabled ECUAA to make
progress toward its organizational goal of engaging 100% of ECU alumni. To this end, the
ECUAA staff had the stakeholder goal to implement new alumni engagement programs, by
December 2019, which specifically increases the engagement of minority alumni. This study
aimed to gather in-depth data to evaluate whether ECUAA’s staff were equipped to create such a
plan and to determine what knowledge, motivation, and organizational process gaps might exist
that would prevent them from achieving their goal. Through these data, ECUAA staff can find
solutions to create more targeted, relevant, and interesting programs for ECUAA’s minority
alumni. A failure to do so by the staff will result in ECUAA not meeting its performance goal of
100% alumni engagement.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 15

Table 1
Organizational Mission, Global Goal, and Stakeholder Performance Goals
Organizational Mission
The East Coast University Alumni Association’s (ECUAA) mission is to create and offer
programs and events that engage 100% of ECU’s alumni.
Organizational Performance Goal
To meet 100% minority alumni engagement.
Staff Member Goal
By December 2019, ECUAA staff will implement new alumni engagement programs to increase
the engagement of minority alumni.

Review of the Literature
This literature review examined minority alumni engagement by higher education
institutions in the United States. The review begins with an examination of the general state of
alumni engagement within higher education and identifies the methods in which alumni
engagement is currently practiced. That precis is followed by an overview of how higher
education institutions may be adjusting alumni engagement vehicles specifically for minority
alumni. Next, the review considers the various factors as to why minority alumni may or may not
choose to connect with their undergraduate institutions. Finally, the review investigates how
educational institutions are adjusting their alumni engagement channels to connect with minority
alumni. Following the general research literature review, the researcher plans to use the Gap
Analysis framework (Clark & Estes, 2008) to focus on the knowledge, motivation and
organizational influences on the staff at ECUAA, as they plan, design, and implement the
programs to engage minority alumni at ECU.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 16

Alumni Engagement in Higher Education
Alumni engagement is the process through which universities and colleges remain
connected to their graduates for long-term mutual support (Gallo, 2013). Engagement can come
in many different forms, such as volunteerism and philanthropy, and through various channels,
such as in-person and electronic, and through various communications mediums, including social
media. Most institutions employ a multi-faceted approach to alumni engagement across types
and channels (Weerts & Cabrera, 2017).
Types of alumni engagement. By engaging with their alma mater, an alumnus or
alumna may avail of lifelong professional, social, and personal opportunities offered by their
institution. Such engagement also advances the reputation, causes, and needs of the institutions
by leveraging the success of alumni while also providing professional and personal advancement
of the alumnus or alumna. Alumni can also be active participants in the institutional system and
have a voice in governance and the future direction of the institution (Gallo, 2013). Alumni are
also a key source of philanthropic support for their institutions (Gallo, 2012). However,
philanthropic support is the result of prolonged alumni engagement, which evolves through
various stages and gradually becomes stronger.
Gallo (2012) stated that identifying the alumni affiliation is the first stage of the alumni
engagement process and requires deep investigation into an alumnus’s or alumna’s interests and
identities. The second stage is to communicate with the alumnus or alumna to identify affinities
and examine the areas in which they connect most strongly with the institution. The third stage is
to foster engagement through attendance in events, continuing education, support of current
students, participation in travel program, and other areas. The fourth and final stage of the alumni
engagement process is to garner support either as an advocate for the institution, as an
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 17

institutional advisor, as a recruiter or adviser to students, and eventually as a philanthropic
supporter of the institution, which is seen as the most passionate form of engagement by an
alumnus or alumna (Gallo, 2012).
The channels of alumni engagement. Alumni engagement can take many different
forms, and most institutions implement various interconnected approaches to connect with
alumni. Weerts and Cabrera (2017) stated that relationship building is the key goal of alumni
engagement and that institutions tailor approaches to relationship building based on alumni
experiences, personal attributes, and support behaviors of alumni. The authors asserted that
engaging alumni who connect with their institution by donating is a different exercise than
engaging alumni who offer non-monetary support such as volunteerism, political advocacy, or
both. Pastorella (2003) outlined a number of different channels through which institutions
engaged alumni, such as communicating recent news and institutional updates, inviting alumni to
alumni-specific, class-specific, and general institutional events, inviting alumni to service and
volunteer opportunities, and engaging alumni through fundraising appeals.
To increase effectiveness and impact, social media and electronic engagement channels
are gradually changing the nature of alumni engagement (Bunker, 2011). Social networks are a
powerful tool to gather a full range of data, such as identifying where alumni are; serving as
databases that outline what the current interests and associations of alumni might be; and
determining the activities in which they are involved. Social media allow institutions to tailor
engagement to match alumni interest in real time. They are also vehicles that deliver real-time,
on-campus happenings rather than traditional communication channels that may become obsolete
by the time they reach alumni (Bunker, 2011). Farrow and Yuan (2011) also found that active
participation by alumni with social media groups showed greater frequency of communication
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 18

with institutions and a stronger emotional connection. The frequency of communication and
emotional connection manifested in actual behavior of volunteerism and giving through various
pathways. The authors also observed a consistency of behavior in alumni who engaged with their
alma mater through social media.
Benefits of Alumni Engagement
Alumni engagement can result in mutual benefits for the alumnus/alumna and their alma
mater in numerous ways. While alumni benefit through access to a larger professional network
that may result in business leads, career support, and ancillary benefits, institutions profit through
alumni advocacy for their alma mater, alumni resources for current students, and alumni
philanthropy.
Benefits for alumni. Through engaging with their alma mater, alumni reap the rewards
of lifelong professional and personal support, have a pathway for continuing education, and gain
the opportunity to take advantage of membership with a larger social group (Grant, 2008).
Alumni receive lifelong career support services, become part of a professional network, and use
their alumni network to foster new business contacts and partnerships. Alumni can also take
advantage of personal benefits, such as alumni travel programs, special rates for affinity
programs on financial products, such as home and auto insurance, continuing education,
invitation to private events, and use of institutional facilities such as libraries and gyms, and
receive discounts or coupons to local service providers and retailers. Furthermore, alumni can
avail themselves of service opportunities to volunteer and give through engagement (Grant,
2008). Barron (2015) found that close engagement with the university enhances an alumnus’s or
alumna’s resume through volunteer opportunities that enable them to expand their professional
network. Such involvement also gives them the chance to be a part of a university network away
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 19

from the geographical location of the institution, and enables them to enjoy social opportunities
in their own cities. While the university network can be a catalyst for the formation of such
groups, these groups often become meaningful and self-sustaining on their own. Finally, alumni
can leverage university networks for professional purposes, such as seeking seed funding in their
own ventures or finding professional partners and collaborators (Barron, 2015).
Benefits for institutions. Institutions benefit from engaged alumni in a variety of ways,
including mentorship and professional guidance for current students, advocacy on behalf of the
institution, the brand reputation of the institution, and philanthropic support of its goals and
priorities. McDearmon (2013) mentioned that alumni who responded favorably to the social
expectations, role expectations, and idea of being an institutional alumnus showed more behavior
toward being an active and engaged alumnus. The author found that the more an institution was
able to promote the positive aspects of being known and associated as an alumnus/alumna of the
institution, the more the institution benefitted from highly engaged alumni. Rissmeyer (2010)
found that alumni can be very important and influential for student life on campuses. Students
can learn from interactions with alumni who have had relevant life and job experiences, alumni
influences can positively impact student social life experience, and professional mentoring
relationships can also be developed with alumni. Furthermore, alumni can serve as professional
resources for career services offices on campuses.
Factors Affecting Minority Alumni Engagement
Research has shown that many factors affect minority alumni engagement at higher
education institutions in the United States. These factors include the rapid diversification of the
college student population, and therefore that of the alumni body as these students graduate, and
experiences minority students may have had while in college. The diversity of the alumni
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 20

relations staff members responsible for managing outreach to minority alumni has also been
shown to be a factor.
Diversification of college student bodies. The racial demographic of college student
bodies is gradually changing. Colleges are increasingly valuing a highly diverse student body
because they want to provide a range of experiences for students to learn from in preparation to
be active citizens in a global world. A number of these diversity experiences are provided by the
very composition of the student body (Denson, Bowman, & Park, 2017). The racial composition
of the applicant pool is further diversifying as the children of minority college graduates add to
the numbers of first-generation college applicants. Howell and Turner (2004) found that colleges
often admit legacy students at twice the rate of non-legacy students. As colleges responded more
to diversifying their student bodies in the wake of Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s, they
admitted more qualified minority students. The children of many of those minority students,
buoyed by a strong culture of academic achievement at home, are increasingly qualified
applicants themselves and are beginning to gradually diversify the legacy pool. As the legacy
pool starts to diversify, colleges are even more rapidly diversifying, with many colleges that
were overwhelmingly White only a few years ago veering toward becoming majority-minority
institutions (Howell & Turner, 2004).
Relationship of minority alumni with their alma mater. Burley, Butner, Causey-Bush,
and Bush (2007) found that African American alumni experiences are affected by their
experiences as students. The negative experience is harbored more intensely by older generations
than more recent ones. Gender and financial aid have much less effect on the alumni experience
than age. Moreover, gay and lesbian minorities have experiences that involve navigating the
intersectionality of their sexual, gender, and racial identity in unique ways. Ford (2015)
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 21

discovered that many historically Black colleges have recently been overwhelmed with a
conservative social climate in which gay men have been forced to hide their sexual identities out
of fear of abuse, discrimination, and duress. The author’s findings showed that the masculinity of
Black gay men was celebrated but any perception of effeminacy was othered. Physically violent
behavior against Black gay men was higher than against Black straight men, and that straight
men seemed to celebrate the violence. Ford found that racial identity, as Black men, was
attacked, with the notion that homosexuality was limited to Caucasians. As a result, participants
also questioned the significance of attending a HBCU in the first place. Non-HBCUs can suffer
from similar issues within Black student social groups and other social structures such as
fraternities and other social clubs in private elite institutions (Ford, 2015). These experiences are
harbored long after these students graduate and affect their engagement as alumni.
Lack of diversity among alumni relations staff. On the other hand, while the alumni
population is rapidly diversifying, staff diversity of alumni associations has not kept pace with
this change. Over the next 40 years, minorities will become the majority in the United States, and
many college campuses will become majority-minority. However, the alumni engagement staff
have not become as rapidly diversified as the alumni body. The lack of diverse alumni
association staff may affect the ability of institutions to effectively engage minority alumni
(Bowman, 2010). Cauda (2014) also stated that Latinx engagement with their alma mater in the
form of philanthropic support increases if the engagement is fostered by a diverse staff,
specifically with Latinx staff members. Garvey and Drezner (2013) found a similar positive
correlation in increased engagement of LGBTQ alumni by alumni relations departments with
higher numbers of LGBTQ individuals among its staff members.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 22

Adjustment of Alumni Engagement Channels to Appeal to Minority Alumni
Proactive communication is an important factor to appeal to minority alumni. Williams,
Bonner, Monts, Louis, and Robinson (2014) stated that actively creating and promoting regular
Black alumni reunions is a first and positive step of outreach. The authors also found that
creating forums to share negative and painful thoughts, feelings, and experiences during college
at these reunions can lead to a healing experience and rekindling of relationships with the alma
mater and that communicating specifically to African American alumni to nominate candidates
for boards and committees could lead to increased membership of African American alumni for
these volunteer bodies. Furthermore, the study showed that money is a powerful form of
communication and that institutions with specifically earmarked financial aid and other
scholarships for African American students have seen increased membership and engagement by
African American alumni.
Customizing communication to specific minority alumni groups has also been shown to
have positive results in engaging those alumni groups. For instance, specific outreach and
communication of relevant topics with Latinx alumni groups was seen to be the most effective.
Outreach from Latinx staff members was seen to yield positive Latinx alumni engagement
results while an institution-wide commitment to Latinx alumni engagement was shown to have
positive results in Latinx giving (Cauda, 2014). Garvey and Drezner (2013) also found that
alumni relations staff members’ active promotion of specific engagement opportunities to
LGBTQ alumni had shown successful reciprocation. If staff themselves are part of the LGBTQ
community, then communication is the most effective. The commonality of background creates a
strong bond between staff and alumni. Even if the staff member is not part of the community,
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 23

active understanding, and identification with LGBTQ causes was shown to be effective. Overall
diversity of staff also showed effective engagement with LGBTQ alumni.
Gasman (2002) discovered that by drawing African American alumni into the institution
intimately, they can be more effectively engaged. The engagement is particularly strong if
African American alumni are asked to serve on university volunteer boards and committees. The
stronger the association of African American alumni with feeling the sense of ownership at their
alma mater, the more effective their engagement is with the institution.
Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences
The Clark and Estes Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework
The Gap Analysis Framework proposed by Clark & Estes (2008) evaluates and identifies
gaps between an organization’s stated goals and its actual performance. The framework focuses
its analysis on stakeholders within an organization who are responsible for or affected by these
performance gaps and attempts to analyze three influences—stakeholder knowledge, stakeholder
motivation, and organizational factors—which may be responsible for the identified performance
gaps. According to the authors, evaluating whether employees have the requisite knowledge
and skills to achieve their goals is key to their effectiveness. For the purposes of this study,
ECUAA staff knowledge, staff motivation, and organizational factors are addressed below, and
helped to ascertain what the organization needed to meet its stakeholder goal of implementing
new alumni engagement programs by December 2019 to increase minority alumni engagement.
Following that process, the effect of these assumed influences on performance was examined
through the study methodology described below.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 24

Knowledge Influences
To achieve their goal, ECUAA staff will need specific knowledge and skills to identify
the barriers for minority alumni to engage with the ECUAA, to identify the best practices for
ECUAA staff to overcome those barriers, and to reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses
as ECUAA staff. According to Clark and Estes (2008), evaluating whether employees have the
requisite knowledge and skills to achieve their goals is key to their effectiveness. Rueda (2011)
has identified the assessment of specific knowledge and skills used to achieve goals by staff
members in an organization to be an important part of evaluating performance problems within
that organization. Training and development programs have key benefits in improving staff
knowledge and skills, staff performance, and creating transformational leaders leading to better
teams and organizations (Aguinis & Kraiger, 2009). However, the constant evaluation of training
models has been recommended to ascertain the effectiveness of knowledge transfer to trainees in
a workplace environment (Grossman & Salas, 2011). Mayer (2011) and Carpenter (2012) have
underscored the staff’s ability to acquire knowledge, and then apply it to workplace settings, as
vital to an organization’s success.
Krathwohl (2002) categorized the types of knowledge an employee can acquire into four
categories: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive Factual knowledge is the most
basic type of knowledge an individual must have to perform a task or to solve problems within a
specific field. Conceptual knowledge takes this basic knowledge a step further and is a complex
and organized form of knowledge that requires the individual to understand the interrelationships
among the elementary parts of a larger structure of information. Procedural knowledge deals
with the method or technique of achieving a task. Finally, metacognitive knowledge is the
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 25

consciousness of knowledge itself—an individual’s self-awareness of his or her own cognitive
level and needs (Krathwohl, 2002; Mayer, 2011).
This study focused on one procedural and one metacognitive influence, which provided
the framework in which the knowledge and skills of ECUAA staff were analyzed. The
procedural knowledge influence intended to discover barriers to the staff’s implementation of
minority alumni engagement and identify the best practices to overcome them. The
metacognitive knowledge influence that was selected was the self-reflection of ECUAA staff on
their own strengths, weaknesses, and abilities to create a plan toward achieving their goal of
enhancing minority alumni engagement.
Barriers preventing minority alumni engagement and identifying best practices to
overcome them. ECUAA staff needed to know what the barriers were to minority alumni
engaging with the ECUAA. Knowing those barriers would enable the staff to implement
improved engagement programs by making the three engagement vehicles—communication,
participation, or service—more appealing to minority alumni. An example of communication
would be for ECUAA to have an active and current email address for an alumnus to
communicate with. Participation can be in many forms including an alumnus attending an event
or responding to a survey. Service for alumni can be in the form of volunteering on a committee
or supporting the university through a donation.
Research has shown that the factors that lead minority alumni to engage with their
institutions after graduation remain complex but depend in large part on the attitudes,
perceptions, and awareness they developed at those institutions as students. Burley et al. (2007)
surveyed 321 African American alumni of a predominantly White research-intensive university.
The authors used Tinto’s theory of student departure (Tinto, 1975, 1993) as the framework of the
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 26

survey, reasoning that the principles behind why students choose to leave their educational
pathways may explain why alumni choose to forego any association with their undergraduate
institution. Three independent variables were chosen to analyze the data across gender, financial
aid status, and matriculation period. The authors found that while financial aid status and gender
were non-factors in how these alumni viewed their associations with their institutions, the
matriculation period, or the decade in which they attended the institution, had an impact on their
perceptions of the university as alumni. Burley et al. (2007) also found the discrepancies of the
perceptions of the older and younger African American alumni were based on the principles of
Tinto’s theory of student departure—namely academic and social integration into the college.
Older alumni would have tended to be at these institutions at a time when they were more likely
to have faced problems in assimilating within the student body academically or been excluded
from social activities as a result of racism or bigotry. The authors found that the resulting
feelings of isolation and lack of belonging would affect the association of these alumni with their
institutions, even if they continued their academic program and graduated.
Furthermore, ECUAA staff needed to identify whether there were any negative or
uncomfortable perceptions that the three engagement channels continued to have for ECU’s
minority alumni. For instance, a general invitation to a reunion event might still remind minority
alumni of social gatherings at which they felt isolated or excluded from while in college, and
they may refrain from any communication with the ECUAA. The lack of affinity programming
and opportunities during such reunion events may prevent the participation of these alumni as the
social structures and events with others with similar backgrounds and interests that made them
feel comfortable in college would be missing. Finally, minority alumni may refrain from
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 27

volunteering or donating to organize these events if they have the perception that these events are
not geared toward them or toward the minority alumni community.
Pearson (1999) conducted surveys and focus groups with undergraduate alumni at
Stanford University and discovered that undergraduate experience had a direct correlation to
alumni engagement. Furthermore, there was a linear relationship and “interdependence” to the
strength of the engagement (Pearson, 1999). The author also found that the more satisfied an
alumnus was with their undergraduate experience, the more likely they were to engage with the
university after graduation. Those who engaged more were more likely to read and absorb
material in alumni communications, and those who did that were more likely to make donations
to the institution. Another important finding was that student experience as a result of intentional
design by Stanford, such as advising, support, and social programs, was found to be more
effective than experience as a result of chance, such as roommate and dormitory assignments.
Pearson's (1999) findings have relevance to ECUAA staff as they work to make the three alumni
engagement vehicles of communication, participation, and service more relevant to minority
alumni. Researching and identifying the types of interactions, communications, events, social
gatherings, programs, classes, and other offerings most appealing to current minority students
and then reminding them of these positive interactions through the three engagement vehicles
when they become alumni can be productive. Moreover, being intentional about reminding
minority alumni of the positive aspects of their undergraduate experience may be helpful in
creating a more engaged minority alumni body.
Weerts, Cabrera, and Sanford (2010) recommended evaluating the term alumni
engagement itself as colleges and universities do not often measure political advocacy that
alumni often undertake on behalf of their institutions as a form of alumni engagement. Such
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 28

advocacy can come in the form of lobbying on behalf of the university or advocacy for the
university’s interests, such as maintaining federal research funds, protecting undocumented
students at the university, or supporting regulatory environments for intellectual property or
capital infrastructure projects. In their study, Weerts et al. (2010) surveyed 2,300 alumni at an
institution; 1,441 alumni responded. Five hundred and fourteen alumni responded as having
engaged in service-oriented behaviors, such as political advocacy, that generally did not factor
into the institution’s definition of alumni engagement. The authors stated that, by missing
categories of engagement, the institution may be omitting groups of alumni who favor such
forms of advocacy on behalf of their institutions as their service to their alma mater. ECUAA
staff should undertake an evaluation of what is currently received as the standard definition of
alumni engagement and whether solutions can be proposed to improve the definition to
positively impact the engagement of minority employees. Such an exercise can help ECUAA
staff enhance their conceptual understanding of the processes needed for minority alumni
engagement.
Gasman and Bowman (2013) also highlighted the importance of learning some of the
best practices for engaging minority alumni and overcoming the barriers mentioned above. Best
practices in the field are strategies to overcome constraints. To identify these best practices, the
authors recommended interacting with peer institutions and learning from them. Even if a
solution itself is not discovered, strategies to help manage the barriers in minority alumni
engagement can be useful in and of themselves
Self-reflection of staff. ECUAA staff, as a group, needs to reflect on its own strengths,
weaknesses, and ability to support the engagement of minority alumni. The resulting information
from such a self-reflection exercise is an example of metacognitive knowledge. This type of
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 29

metacognitive knowledge can provide personal insights, a greater understanding of needs and
knowledge gaps, and what skills the staff may need to be successful at the goal (Baker, 2006;
Grossman & Salas, 2011; Kulik & Roberson, 2008; Rueda, 2011).
Garvey and Drezner (2013) conducted focus groups of 37 staff members and 23 LGBTQ
alumni across three colleges and found that a diverse alumni staff, specifically staff from a sub-
group that the alumni association was trying to engage, was the most effective and that trust
between staff and alumni were important indicators of alumni engagement. Staff members were
shown to be effective advocates and leaders for LGBTQ alumni engagement and giving.
Discrimination within the staff and low diversity rates were shown to affect outreach efforts to
alumni. Additionally, the lack of culturally sensitive practices within the staff body were shown
to affect alumni engagement and participation rates. Kulik and Roberson (2008) highlighted the
importance of diversity education toward diversity knowledge, diversity attitudes, and diversity
skills and behavior within academic and organizational settings. The authors stated that diversity
education could enhance conceptual understanding of diverse groups and their needs. However,
the existence of diversity education within organizations can also change attitudes of staff toward
diverse groups both directly through training and indirectly through self-reflection. Kulik and
Roberson stated that the very existence of diversity education often led staff members to self-
reflect on their own beliefs and diversity knowledge because of the institutional commitment to
such principles. This form of self-reflection can be a metacognitive exercise because it is a self-
assessment of knowledge and beliefs that staff members already possess. (Baker, 2006; Rueda,
2011). Kulik and Roberson also stated that diversity education and the resulting self-reflection
led to identifying and addressing implicit bias through improvements in diversity skills and
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 30

behaviors among the staff that enabled them to be effective advocates to engage minority alumni,
as seen in Garvey and Drezner (2013).
Table 2
Knowledge Influences, Types, and Assessments for Knowledge Gap Analysis
Organizational Mission
The East Coast University Alumni Association’s (ECUAA) mission is to create and offer
programs and events that engage 100% of ECU’s alumni.
Organizational Global Goal
To meet 100% minority alumni engagement.
Stakeholder Goal
By December 2019, ECUAA staff will implement new alumni engagement programs to
increase the engagement of minority alumni.
Knowledge Influences Knowledge Type Knowledge Influence
Assessments
Staff need to know the barriers
that prevent the engagement of
minority alumni with the
ECUAA through the three
engagement vehicles –
communication, participation, or
service – and then identify the
best practices to overcome those
barriers.

The staff, as a group, needs to
reflect on its own strengths,
weaknesses, and ability to
support the engagement of
minority alumni.
Conceptual

Metacognitive
Interviews to better understand
whether staff know the barriers
for minority alumni to engage
with ECUAA, what those
barriers might be, and what
best practices might exist at
peer institutions to overcome
those barriers.

Interviews to explore whether
the staff are self-reflecting to
be aware of their own strengths
and weaknesses to execute a
new minority alumni
engagement plan.

Motivation Influences
Rueda (2011) defined motivation as the factor that drives individuals to success in their
goals and ensures persistence in a task to completion. Furthermore, motivation is the quality that
leads individuals to believe in their abilities and their own faculties to engage in and complete a
task successfully. Additionally, as discussed above, regarding knowledge influences, while
evaluating a performance problem at an organization, an understanding of how the motivational
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 31

influences of employees are contributing to the problem is important (Clark & Estes, 2008;
Rueda, 2011). Research has suggested that motivational factors are best evaluated through the
context of active choice, persistence, and mental effort to determine the source of motivation
deficiency (Clark & Estes, 2008; Mayer, 2011; Rueda, 2011). While there are a number of
motivational theories, this study focused on two specific theories: expectancy value theory and
self-efficacy theory.
Eccles (2009) has stated that expectancy value theory relates to the value an individual
places on a certain task and that the value—coupled with a self-belief in his or her ability and
high expectations of success—increases their performance. The author stated that the value of a
task, as perceived by the person carrying it out, is a key indicator of how that person would start,
persevere, and complete a task or achieve a goal. Expectancy points to how strongly the
individual expects to complete the task while value points to how much the individual wants to
complete the task. This value can be ascertained in four ways: (a) intrinsic value, which is the
satisfaction an individual feels, or expects to feel, when performing the task; (b) attainment
value, which is the connection between the task and the individual’s own identity and
inclinations; (c) utility value, or how well the task will fulfill the individual’s own goals and
plants; and (d) cost value, which relates to the cost that the task will extract in the form of time,
effort, and emotional investment (Eccles, 2009).
A second type of motivational theory is what Bandura (2000) has called self-efficacy
theory. Self-efficacy theory addresses a quality within individuals that deals with that person’s
belief in him- or herself to accomplish a task. He has maintained that self-efficacy is a key
components of an individual’s motivation toward goal accomplishment. An individual’s self-
efficacy is impacted by not only what an individual thinks about their own abilities but also by
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 32

what they feel others may perceive about their abilities (Pajares, 2006). Self-efficacy has been
shown to motivate staff members in organizations to achieve their personal tasks and goals.
Alternatively, a lack of self-efficacy has been shown to be a factor in unmotivated employees
and the cause for performance problems in the workplace (Clark & Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011).
This study focused on the motivational value influence of ECUAA staff’s understanding the
value of the organization’s goal and the motivational self-efficacy influence for ECUAA staff to
believe in the need for change to achieve the organizational goal.
Understanding the value of minority engagement. ECUAA staff need to understand
the value of ECUAA’s goal of 100% minority alumni engagement (Eccles, 2009). Research
shows that the success of alumni engagement programs at higher education institutions depend
on the efforts of the staff members responsible for implementing these programs. Cabrera,
Weerts, and Zulick (2005) examined the value of alumni surveys in the success of higher
education institutions and their engagement of alumni. The authors categorized these surveys
into three broad types: those that measure the outcomes and achievements of alumni, those that
measure the engagement and connectedness to the university, and, finally, those that measure
how alumni remain philanthropically supportive of their university. Such surveys have been
shown to have an impact on alumni engagement and positive effects on fundraising, planning,
public policy. Such a study can help staff members understand the value of a particular alumni
engagement channel. Furthermore, Paradise (2016) conducted a survey of all U.S. community
colleges, of which 139 responded to the survey, for a 13.3% return. The survey gathered data on
the staffing, structure, communications, marketing, and engagement processes at their alumni
relations offices. Results showed that organizations where staff believed in the concept of alumni
engagement and believed in their individual ability to enhance alumni engagement rates
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 33

improved the overall rates of their alumni engagement and networking when coupled with
increased resources. The study results can also be interpreted as showing that organizations in
which staff understood the value of alumni engagement were organizations with the most
improved engagement rates.
Williams et al. (2014) explored the impact of giving and participation of African
American alumni based on outreach efforts by staff members at a Southern State University,
located in a predominantly White part of the state and had significant engagement only with
White alumni. The authors found that the successful creation of a Black alumni base at the
institution, who were very engaged, both programmatically and philanthropically, was largely
due to the pro-active efforts of university staff. Staff commitment resulted in a Black alumni
reunion event; more African Americans serving on the board of the alumni association from only
one in all the years prior; a large number of African American alumni who were previously not
in the organization’s database engaging with the university; and an increase in donations from
African American to support financial aid and other priorities. Therefore, ECUAA staff can see
the value of minority alumni engagement efforts and programs—not only in the creation of a
diverse and strong alumni body, but also in service of the current student body through the
provision of financial aid and other support from philanthropic dollars.
Staff need to believe in their ability to effect change. ECUAA staff need to believe that
they are capable of implementing programs to enhance minority alumni engagement. Institutions
in which staff believe in their ability to improve engagement efforts with alumni have often
experienced a growth in alumni engagement rates. Paradise (2016) showed that if staff believe in
the importance of alumni engagement, then it leads to increased alumni engagement at those
institutions.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 34

In a study of staff members at three separate higher education institutions, Garvey and
Drezner (2013) found that belief in a staff member’s own ability to connect with the alumni and
engage them played a major role in effective alumni engagement, especially when the staff
member belonged to the same minority sub-group as the engaged alumnus. Therefore, self-
efficacy is a major factor behind the motivation of alumni relations staff members to effectively
implement organizational policies and processes to engage alumni, especially minority alumni.
Table 3

Motivational Influences, Types, and Assessments for Motivation Gap Analysis
Organizational Mission
The East Coast University Alumni Association’s (ECUAA) mission is to create and offer
programs and events that engage 100% of ECU’s alumni.
Organizational Global Goal
To meet 100% minority alumni engagement.
Assumed Motivation Influences Motivation Influence Assessments
Value: Staff need to understand the value of
ECUAA’s goal of 100% minority alumni
engagement.

Self-Efficacy: Staff need to believe that they
are capable of implementing programs to
enhance minority alumni engagement.
Interviews to explore in-depth if the staff
grasp the significance and need of a minority
alumni engagement program and why/why
not?

Interviews to understand whether the staff
believe in their own abilities to execute on a
new plan.

Organizational Influences
Organization influences may hinder stakeholders and the organization as a whole from
accomplishing goals (Rueda, 2011). These influences are often related to organizational culture
or cultural processes, which are difficult to identify because they may often be invisible,
inaccessible, and relative to different stakeholders. Schein (2017) has defined organizational
culture as a shared learning experience within that organization which helps members of that
organization solve internal issues and become acclimated to interacting with external
constituencies. If these solutions and interactions are promising enough, they become ingrained
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 35

within organizational processes and newer members of the organization are trained to recognize,
evaluate, contemplate, and solve problems in a similar way (Schein, 2017).
These cultural processes within organizations have two parts. The first is what Rueda
(2011) has called cultural models, which are the shared schema of how an organizational process
and structure is shaped by identifying and implementing its values, practices, policies, and
incentive structure. Cultural models help identify some of the invisible aspects of an
organization’s cultural influences. The second part is the cultural setting, which includes social
contexts that help illuminate some of the visible aspects of an organization’s culture. The cultural
setting is a more tangible version of a social context and constitutes the fundamental questions
whose answers help improve organizational processes (Rueda, 2011).
Cultural model: Valuing engagement with minority alumni and acknowledging past
historical injustices. Agócs (1997) found “inaction” to be a primary reason that inhibited
organizational change processes. The inaction could be of many forms, ranging from active
inaction to more passive forms, including letting the passage of time be the elixir to solving
organizational problems, encouraging stakeholders to change rather than the organization
proactively changing its own processes, and a tentativeness to initiate change processes for fear
of risk to the organization. All of these forms of change resistance at the ECUAA could have
been having the unintended consequence of appearing to outside observers that the ECUAA did
not value engagement with minority alumni. Research has shown that minority alumni engaged
positively with their alma mater if the institution proactively showed that it highly valued
engaging with its minority alumni. Gasman and Bowman III (2013) have found that proactively
stating what the organization is doing to promote minority alumni engagement yielded positive
results in the effort. Williams et al. (2014) also stated that alumni associations should be
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 36

intentional in their desire to engage minority alumni by providing them a reason and a purpose to
become part of the alumni experience. Such measures provide unequivocal signals to minority
alumni that their participation as alumni with their institutions are valued and treasured by their
alma mater.
Additionally, Agócs (1997) identified “denial” as a form of resistance to organizational
change. Part of this form of denial is delegitimizing both the message that change is needed and
the carriers of that message. For this study, it was helpful to assess whether the ECUAA
adequately acknowledged and informed staff of past organizational failures to effectively engage
minority alumni or whether there was a cultural model of “denial” within the organization. This
assessment was important because research has shown that minority alumni engagement
behaviors are informed immensely through their past experiences of discrimination, slights, and
the feeling of being “othered.” Gallo (2013) stated that alumni engagement by institutions begins
while individuals are still enrolled as students. Furthermore, Burley et al. (2007) found that
African American alumni experiences were affected by their experiences as students. The
authors found that negative experiences as college students were directly related to a lack of
engagement with the institution as adults. Williams et al. (2014) discovered that prior mistakes
in outreach approaches to engage African American alumni resulted in lower rates of
engagement, without more specific and direct outreach, even when programs were generally
improved. Gasman and Bowman (2013) maintained the great importance that previous negative
experiences be actively acknowledged and that active communication is conducted regarding
what has been implemented to improve organizational practices. The authors stated that minority
alumni may expect “compensation” in the form of acknowledgements, apologies, and improved
policies for their previous negative experiences.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 37

Cultural setting: Having a diverse alumni relations staff and alumni volunteer
leaders. Lack of a diverse alumni relations staff has been identified as an impediment to
effective minority alumni engagement. Bowman (2010) found that while the college student
population is rapidly diversifying and minorities will become the majority among U.S. college
alumni by 2050, alumni engagement staff have not become as rapidly diversified as the alumni
body, which leads to issues of interrelatedness between minority alumni and the staff within
alumni associations. The institution may even be eventually hindered from effectively engaging
the minority alumnus/alumna if they feel that the lack of diversity among the staff reflects a
deficiency of effort on the part of the institution to acknowledge, promote, and celebrate
minority-related issues that may be important to the minority alumni body. Cauda (2014) found
that specific outreach to Latinx alumni from Latinx alumni relations staff members yielded
positive engagement results. Garvey and Drezner (2013) studied LGBTQ alumni and their
engagement with alumni relations staff members at three different institutions and discovered
that if staff members were part of the LGBTQ community, the commonality of background led
to a strong bond between the staff member and the alumnus/alumna. The authors also found that
overall staff diversity, along with active understanding and promotion of LGBTQ issues and
cases, enhanced alumni engagement. Therefore, for this study, it was important to assess whether
the ECUAA had a cultural model of having any obstacles to increasing staff diversity, which
would also hinder effective minority alumni engagement.
Gasman (2002) found that one way of drawing minority alumni effectively into the
institution was to recruit them as alumni volunteer leaders on boards and committees. Gasman
found this method to be a particularly strong engagement channel not just for the recruited
alumnus/alumna but also for the minority group at-large who feel more invested in engaging
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 38

with the institution if a member of their own minority group is represented on a board. This
recruitment could also be a powerful way for the institution to recognize and celebrate minority
alumni for their accomplishment. Their placement on the alumni association board itself could be
a very meaningful gesture to other minority alumni who may want view the institution’s actions,
of publicly honoring its minority alumni by selecting them to its board, favorably. Gasman and
Bowman (2013) also found that this exercise helped minority alumni feel that the institution was
serious about their engagement and that board diversity could create effective and lasting change
by engaging other minority alumni. The authors recommended that recruitment be based less on
filling gaps on the board and more on organizational changes that need to be made so that such
volunteer leadership positions are more attractive for minority alumni to pursue themselves.
Williams et al. (2014) also found that alumni volunteer leaders who were minorities could help
improve organizational communication with other minority alumni and effective representation
of the institution among minority alumni groups. Therefore, assessing whether there is a lack of
minority alumni representation on the ECUAA executive committee and other sub committees
would be effective to evaluate the influence of this cultural setting at ECUAA.
Table 4
Organizational Influences and Organizational Influence Assessments
Organizational Mission
The East Coast University Alumni Association’s (ECUAA) mission is to create and offer programs and events
that engage 100% of ECU’s alumni.
Organizational Global Goal
To meet 100% minority alumni engagement.
Assumed Organizational Influences Organizational Influence Assessments
Cultural Model: ECUAA needs to value engagement
with minority alumni, including acknowledgement of
past historical injustices.

Cultural Setting: ECUAA needs diverse alumni
relations staff and alumni volunteer leaders.
Document Analysis showing nature of communications
with alumni. Interviews to understand how
organizational cultural models are being acknowledged
and addressed.

Document analysis to review diversity of staff and
alumni. Interviews to understand how organizational
cultural settings are influencing practice and process in
minority alumni engagement programs.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 39

Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Staff Knowledge and Motivation with
Organizational Context
The conceptual framework for a research study serves as the underlying foundation for
the study and is a broad representation of the underlying terms, concepts, beliefs, and ideas along
with a discussion of specific principles within the field of study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Maxwell (2013) stated that the function of a conceptual framework is to assist in the creation of
the research design, help in refining study goals, identify the appropriate research questions,
ascertain applicable methodologies, and pinpoint potential validity threats for any conclusions.
Figure 1, below, shows the conceptual framework for this study. In this model, the
ECUAA staff members’ knowledge and motivational influences, contained within the smaller
circle, is wholly a part of the larger circle that contains the ECUAA organizational cultural
settings and models. This scheme is appropriate because the stakeholders in this study were
within the organization; therefore, the small circle is within the big one. The significance of the
small circle and big circle extends to the impact of the influences explained above. Everything in
the big circle—namely the organizational cultural models and settings—is impacting everything
in the small one, which are the stakeholder knowledge and motivational influences, and vice-
versa. The small circle is also smaller because it is just one of the stakeholders for the
organization, ECUAA; there are other stakeholders, such as alumni, faculty, and administrators,
who are not the focus of this study. The stakeholder influences and the organizational influences
enable the stakeholder to make progress toward their stakeholder goal, which is represented by
the arrow. The box is the stakeholder goal, which is met only when stakeholder influences and
organizational influences are addressed to successfully equip and enable the stakeholders to
achieve their stated goal. This conceptual framework shows the interactions between the
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 40

ECUAA staff members’ knowledge and motivation with ECUAA’s organizational cultural
settings and models all with the aim to evaluate the extent to which ECUAA was meeting its
organizational goal of 100% minority engagement. For this study, the conceptual framework was
used to identify potential solutions and recommendations for gaps in staff knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources that were impeding the staff goal of implementing new
minority alumni engagement programs.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework.

East Coast University Alumni Association (ECUAA)
Cultural Settings: Impediments to staff diversity and
diversity among alumni volunteer leaders.
Cultural Models: Inability to project the value of
engaging minority alumni and a lack of
acknowledgement of past historical injustices.

(
ECUAA Staff members
procedural, conceptual and
metacognitive knowledge related to
making programs more appealing
to minority alumni, staff self-
reflecting on their capabilities; staff
understanding the value of minority
alumni engagement and staff
possessing the self-efficacy that
leads them to believe in their
ability to enhance minority alumni
engagement.
ECUAA staff designing new alumni engagement programs, by
December 2019, which specifically increase the engagement of
minority alumni.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 41

Qualitative Data Collection

For this qualitative study, the researcher chose to employ an emergent qualitative design
that employed purposeful and convenient sampling methods to identify interview subjects. The
researcher used this approach to understand comprehensively and thoroughly the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational process gaps at ECUAA from the ECUAA staff involved in
designing and implementing minority alumni programs.
The qualitative data collection was through two methods. The first method was a
thorough the examination of official, publicly available documents related to ECUAA’s
communications with alumni across all mediums and certain publications created through alumni
submissions. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) have stated that documents can provide a roadmap for
researchers to analyze data obtained from interviews and also offer insights for future research
and exploration. The second method of data collection was through eight individual interviews of
ECUAA staff who, as a group, were the primary stakeholders in this study. Interviews provide
rich and contextual information about a particular topic and offer the researcher the opportunity
to discover the subject’s viewpoint (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Because of the study’s emergent
design, a semistructured interview provided the best chance to examine the problem in-depth and
yield comparable data from multiple subject interviews (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007).
Documents and Artifacts
Documents were used in gathering data for this study and were connected to the
stakeholder goal of implementing new minority alumni engagement programs and the research
question of how the organizational context affects it. The benefit of documents is twofold.
According to Merriam and Tisdell (2016), documents are easily available and are connected to
the research site. Secondly, they are free of researcher bias as they have been in existence
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 42

independent of researcher contribution and influence. For this study, the researcher examined
publicly available documents, event programs, brochures, university publications, social media
pages, emails, websites, and other related paper and electronic documents related to alumni
communications that either reference, discuss, or include alumni. Also reviewed were
publications created through self-reports and submissions from alumni. These documents met the
standard of official and public records, as categorized by Merriam and Tisdell (2016). The
researcher reviewed these documents to better understand whether ECUAA proactively
acknowledged past historical injustices and outwardly projected the value of its engagement with
minority alumni. The document analysis helped to shape the interview questions and to gain
insight from stakeholders through those questions, and then assisted in assessment of the overall
interview responses to see the whether ECUAA’s organizational culture was inhibiting its
minority alumni engagement programs.
Through a content analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) of ECU’s alumni communications
and alumni self-reported documents, the researcher developed insight into how the efforts of the
ECUAA staff were affected by current organizational cultural models and processes. Interview
questions for the stakeholders included asking employees about this topic. Incorporating another
of Merriam and Tisdell's (2016) suggestions, coding the documents early into descriptive
categories of information provided good insight on the answers of interview questions from the
stakeholders. The researcher established the coding to see whether alumni communications
processes could fill a knowledge gap for them or be the solution to an organizational process at
ECUAA that might be a hindrance to their achieving their stakeholder goal.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 43

Interviews
Interviews helped shed light on the knowledge and motivation of ECUAA staff members
with regard to achieving their stakeholder goal of implementing new minority alumni
engagement programs to increase minority alumni engagement. It also highlighted organizational
processes that might have been hindering or preventing the stakeholders from making progress
and achieving their goal. The interviews took place after the document analysis. The timing was
meant to enable the researcher to ensure that questions for the interview took into account
insights gained from the document analysis. An initial email went out to all 44 employees of
ECUAA to invite volunteers to participate for interviews (a few positions were vacant at the time
of this study). Eleven individuals (25% of the ECUAA workforce) initially volunteered, with
eight volunteers (18.18% of the ECUAA workforce) going through the full process of scheduling
a time for the interview and participating willingly in the full interview. Each interview subject
was interviewed individually for a period ranging from 24 to 54 minutes. While the researcher is
not an employee of ECUAA, he is employed by an affiliated unit at ECU, and therefore most
ECUAA staff members were familiar with the researcher. As such, the private interviews were a
way for the subject to offer candid answers in private. As mentioned above, the interviews were
semistructured with open-ended questions that enabled subjects to answer freely and allowed the
researcher to ask follow-up questions for clarification and more in-depth understanding.
Therefore the interview was both formal—since there was an interview guide with set
questions—and informal—because of additional follow-up questions based on answers to the set
guide of questions. Most interviews were conducted in private at different locations on campus at
ECU, away from ECUAA offices, to maintain each subject’s confidentiality. However, two
participants waived that right and requested that the interview take place in their office for ease
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 44

of scheduling. All interviews took place during work hours. All interviews were audio recorded
to ensure that the researcher did not miss any detail offered by the subject. The researcher also
took notes by hand to ensure that additional contexts such as body language, gestures, and other
details that may not be present in an audio recording were captured. A full description of the
interview protocol is in Appendix B.
Data Analysis
The researcher analyzed documents and artifacts for evidence consistent with the
concepts in the conceptual framework. For interviews, data analysis began during data
collection. The researcher wrote analytic memos after each interview, documenting his thoughts,
concerns, and initial conclusions about the data in relation to his conceptual framework and
research questions. After each interview, they were transcribed and coded. In the first phase of
analysis, the researcher used open coding, looked for empirical codes, and applied a priori codes
from the conceptual framework. A second phase of analysis was also conducted in which
empirical and a priori codes were aggregated into analytic/axial codes. In the third, and final,
phase of data analysis, the researcher identified pattern codes and themes that emerged in
relation to the conceptual framework and study questions.
Findings
As mentioned above, the findings for this study utilized interviews from eight interview
participants. These eight of 45 individuals represented 18.18 % of the employees at ECUAA
currently occupying full-time positions. A few positions were vacant during the time of this
study. These eight participants were identified using pseudonyms—Elise, Eric, Erica, Erin,
Madison, Martha, Mary, and Molly. Of these eight, seven were female and one was male. Three
were individuals of color. Of the eight, five were salaried, exempt employees, and three were
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 45

hourly, non-exempt employees. All eight had varying ranges of service at ECUAA from fewer
than 5 years to over a decade.
Each of the departments at ECUAA was represented among the interviewees. The
specific job roles, with respect to how each interviewee was involved specifically in engaging
minority alumni, varied from direct everyday involvement to indirect, cyclical involvement
based on reunions and board meetings. Those involved specifically in managing the
organization’s current minority engagement programs were found to have the fewest knowledge
and motivation gaps. Others had partial gaps in knowledge and motivation but felt that the
organization needed to be more purposeful and prescriptive in its approach toward minority
alumni engagement. A few suggested that their motivation gap was as a result of the organization
being more reactive to situations and worried about “optics” than being “proactive to do the right
thing.”
The next three sections address each research question with the influences that emerged
from the data within the Clark and Estes (2008) knowledge, motivation, and organization (KMO)
conceptual framework.
Knowledge Findings

A prior section enumerated the different types of knowledge that an employee can
acquire: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive (Krathwohl, 2002). For the purposes
of this study, the researcher focused on one procedural and one metacognitive influence, which
provided the framework in which the knowledge and skills of ECUAA staff were analyzed. The
procedural knowledge influence this study concentrated on was the process of how ECUAA staff
could make the existing ECUAA engagement vehicles of communication, participation, and
service more appealing for minority alumni. The metacognitive knowledge influence that the
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 46

study focused on was the self-reflection of ECUAA staff on their own strengths, weaknesses, and
abilities to create a plan to achieve their goal of enhancing minority alumni engagement.
Knowledge of Barriers Preventing Minority Alumni Engagement
To achieve their goal of 100% minority alumni engagement, ECUAA staff needed to
know what barriers were preventing minority alumni from engaging with the ECUAA. I
anticipated that knowing those barriers would empower the staff with the knowhow to make the
three engagement vehicles—communication, participation, or service—more appealing to
minority alumni. Seven of eight interviewees said that some barriers were preventing minority
alumni engagement. These stated barriers fell into three main groups—experience of minority
alumni as students, logistical barriers, and organizational barriers. One of the participants could
not identify a barrier to engaging minority alumni.
The negative experience of minority alumni as students was a primary barrier mentioned
by three interviewees. Erin offered:
The biggest barrier is their experience as students. So if they felt like that hate this
institution that's where we have to really sell the value proposition of our engagement
programs. Just trying to get them even to go to an event or participate in that aspect . . .
hopefully over time they become more and more engaged.
Elise also felt that it was difficult for alumni of color to overcome unpleasant memories from
their time as students at ECU and for them to readily overlook that and engage with the
institution in a meaningful way. She said,
I think the barriers are harbored from being students in an institution that for so long was
a white man's world, as were many colleges you know. It’s not [ECU's] fault. It’s not just
[ECU]. My dad went to [another similar institution] and when it was men for so long, so
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 47

now the majority of his leadership groups are white men, and that's not ECU’s fault. It’s
just how things worked. So for these alumni of color to jump right back in to something
on a campus that is a reminder of not so memorable a time is not realistic.
Mary explained that some alumni felt that their experience as minority alumni had more to do
“with their socio-economic background.” She further explained that, during her work
responsibilities, she had heard stories of minority alumni from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds whose college experiences were much different even from other alumni of color
from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. She recalled one such example:
Some people talk about their race and their socio-economic background where they never
felt like they belonged here and I remember a young alum who was first generation.
Because he talked about how his heritage, he's Mexican, and when he was placed in his
dorm situation, one of the roommates was a legacy student. Another roommate was the
son of a professor and I think the other roommate was another legacy student and one of
those roommates was also a person of color. When he was here during his undergrad
days, he just didn't feel like he belonged with any of them. The only people who made
him feel at home on campus was when he was with the dining services workers and the
grounds keepers. He was like “thank God for these people because they made me feel
like I was at home.”
A second major group of barriers identified by four interviewees was logistical in nature:
staff capacity that prevented a personal touch, the lack of gathering space on the ECU campus,
and financial barriers for minority alumni. Molly said that “staff capacity prevents a personal
touch to our outreach,” adding that depended heavily on electronic communication to get people
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 48

to come. Eric mentioned that, from his experience, most minority alumni who engaged with
ECU did so because they had heard from someone personally. He explained:
I think the personal one on one interactions, whether it's a text, a call, a Facebook
message, or whatever it is goes a long way. They're not gonna feel as involved with just
the emails (from the ECUAA) that say register and pay X amount to come.
The cost of engaging for alumni, especially recent graduates was identified as a barrier. Erin said
that “Reunions do have a financial barrier.” Eric added that there is “a financial barrier for many
minority alumni who are recent graduates,” which made it difficult to engage them in the long
run and meant that “they don’t get engaged straight out of college and don’t ever get close to us
as a result.”
Eric, Erin, and Martha explained that a financial support program was in place to help
alumni attend events or travel; however, that program also had its issues. Eric said that the
program “despite our best efforts may not be widely known.” Martha stated that the program
unwittingly could be othering individuals because:
to be able to get discounted tickets, and how they would have to go to a separate table to
pick up those tickets. So they would be identifying quite visually in front of people that
they're going to the I don't have money table.
Molly also mentioned that “trouble finding space on campus” was a significant
impediment to organizing events focused on minority alumni. ECU did not have a conference
center facility, unlike many other large institutions, and on campus events were usually held in
converted class room, lecture halls, and a few auditorium and ballroom spaces around campus, in
various buildings that may not be near each other. She felt that this “led to a disjointed program,”
which was especially acute for minority alumni, where cohesiveness and the “physical proximity
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 49

of various events and engagements created greater engagement opportunities” and facilitated
stronger connections between alumni and more meaningful relationships between staff and
alumni.
The third group of barriers was more organizational in nature. These obstacles included a
conflict between the organization’s approach to focusing on the future but its inability to leave its
past behind; the inability of employees to learn from institutions beyond the natural peer
institution group; and a lack of clarity regarding implementation and execution of organizational
goals. These issues will be further explored in the “Organization Findings” section, below.
Knowledge of Self-Reflection
Another assumed knowledge influence was that the staff as a group needed to self-reflect
on its strengths and weaknesses to support minority alumni engagement at the ECUAA. Six of
eight interviewees—Martha, Mary, Molly, Eric, Erin and Elise—mentioned that self-reflection
was important in their ability to support minority alumni engagement. The other two
interviewees—Madison and Erica—did not specifically mention self-reflection as a knowledge
gap but referred to spending time thinking about their role.
Martha said that in the course of her work responsibilities she often thought about her
ability to bring about change. She explained:
It's something that I think about, I think, on a daily basis. It's something that absolutely
impacts how I think about our programming. And so, we spent a lot of talking and
thinking about how we can make sure that diverse perspectives are represented on stage. I
think about how to ensure that we are creating the conditions that diverse audiences can
engage with us. I try to, I think very actively about the role of the conversations that we
encourage are about allowing people to express the fact that the university hasn't
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 50

historically been a welcoming place for minorities of all stripes. I think that it's central to
my position to create opportunities where people can find comfort and find a way to
reengage with the university without ignoring their past.
While not specifically remarking on outreach to racial and ethnic minority alumni, Mary
mentioned the importance of self-reflection, especially after mistakes are made. She recounted an
episode in which she had accidentally made a mistake regarding a person’s identity, and this was
deeply personal to this alumna. However, she had “rushed into the apology” without the level of
self-reflection and self-learning that she felt that she needed to do and that she “owed this
alumna.” Molly, whose role focused on messaging and communication, often found herself self-
reflecting on the immense responsibility and power she had to make the organization thoughtful
in its communication strategies. She elaborated,
It was crazy to come here and to work with the caliber of alums [and help with
messaging]. That was a power that I really had to try and home in and figure out what the
best move for it was . . . and it was a lot more power than I realized. I really spent time
thinking about email versus social media. I mean, email is such a very specific
touchpoint, but social media is ... people are opting in automatically. So, it is a big
responsibility to ensure that I am being thoughtful and responsive to that choice that an
alum has made.
Eric mentioned that, in his work, he felt that he needed to be more thoughtful—to try and
be “more intentional” about the audience he was attempting to engage. He further said that
“different alumni from different class years had different motivations” based on their experiences
in college, and he often found himself pondering his role in trying to support their needs to the
best of his ability.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 51

Erin mentioned that she often thought about how to implement what she had been trained
to do:
Where I came from before I was in a really small shop doing a million different things
and now I'm doing one very specific thing in a much larger shop. It was definitely a
learning curve. It's almost like consulting now as supporting these volunteer
organizations. At this point I've gone through the training. I think I'm at a good point with
that. so, I do feel like I'm trained and ready to do the work I can do. When I self-review
or we talk about challenges as a group and reflect on them, these things that come up all
the time, situations, how we can do things better in the future we try to figure how to
actually do what we have talked about extensively.
Elise also mentioned that she constantly though of how to increase “representation” on
the volunteer committees that she is assigned to work with. Madison and Erica did not
specifically mention self-reflection or thinking about their abilities to support minority alumni
engagement but rather answered the question as a task, which, as a part of their role, they had to
figure out how to complete. Madison mentioned that she needed to engage in self-reflection to
come up with creative ideas to work with the volunteer groups she was assigned to. Erica
mentioned that she also spent time thinking about how to market the ECUAA, but not
specifically to minority alumni.
The knowledge influence findings reflect that the staff were aware of the barriers to
minority alumni engagement but may not have had the opportunity to adopt best practices in
place to overcome those barriers and implement new minority engagement programs. The
knowledge influence findings also show that while staff members often spent informal time in
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 52

self-reflection, they might not have had enough chances or formally designated times to practice
either individual self-reflection or group self-reflection.
Motivation Findings
As discussed, Rueda (2011) has defined motivation as the factor that drives individuals to
success in their goals and ensures persistence in a task to completion. While a number of
motivational theories exist, this study focused on two specific theories: expectancy value theory
and self-efficacy theory. Eccles (2009) has stated that expectancy value theory relates to the
value an individual places on a certain task, and that the value, coupled with self-belief in their
ability and high expectations for success, increased their performance. A second type of
motivational theory is what Bandura (2000) has called self-efficacy theory. Self-efficacy theory
addresses a quality within individuals that deals with that person’s belief in themselves to
accomplish a task. The focus for this study was on the motivational value influence of ECUAA
staff’s understanding the value of the organization’s goal, and the motivational self-efficacy
influence for ECUAA staff to believe in the need for change to achieve the organizational goal.
The Value of Minority Engagement
From the literature review, the researcher assumed the importance of motivation
influence in that the ECUAA staff needed to understand the value of ECUAA’s goal to increase
minority alumni engagement and that, in doing so, they would feel increased motivation in their
roles. Half of the participants specifically mentioned that they understood the value of minority
alumni engagement; however, two of them also maintained that the organization assumed they
understood the value of such an effort and thus was not overt or clear about it. The other four
participants focused more on the organization’s understanding of the value of minority
engagement. The staff’s grasp of the value of minority engagement was therefore also
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 53

intertwined with an organizational influence—an issue discussed more within the organizational
influences section below.
Erin mentioned that she thought about “how important this work is” and her place within
the ECUAA’s minority alumni engagement initiatives. She said:
I do think it is. I mean diversity is important. I think there's a reason why we need to get
people from many different backgrounds, experiences, cultures, etc. in a room together
and that it only values everyone involved and not just one specific person. I think that we
are trying to work on that more with knowing where our alumni started, and what they
looked like back in the day and how they look now and trying to mesh those two groups
together. But me personally it's very important. That's why I think I enjoy doing this work
so much because I like working with those different groups.
Eric mentioned that while he did not feel that minority alumni engagement was a pro-
active effort by the organization—but rather something that seeped into regular tasks—it didn’t
feel abstract but something that he could identify with and that kept him motivated. He asserted,
“I wouldn't say that I ever heard a concerted effort overtly spoken (about engaging minority
alumni). I would say it kind of manifested in different ways in different projects or different
goals. It kind of trickled down much more into the daily work.” Elise stated that it was important
to her that “the values of her workplace matched her personal ones,” but that she appreciated that
the organization had prioritized engaging minority alums. Martha also mentioned that her
“personal identity” was a key factor in her understanding of the value of engaging minority
alumni. She explained:
I think part of my personal identity and who I try to be outside of my working role is
somebody who tries to be thoughtful and sensitive about intersectionality as a whole. I
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 54

feel like I have a great opportunity in my position to be enacting change within an
organization like this. It's like my personal politics definitely influence how I think about
my work, especially to the importance of being inclusive.
Self-Efficacy
A second assumed motivational influence for the ECUAA staff was self-efficacy, and the
staff’s believing in their ability to help enhance minority alumni engagement at the ECUAA. The
responses from the interviewees suggested that their self-efficacy toward engaging minority
alumni was linked to having the knowledge to overcome barriers and also to the organization’s
commitment to this goal.
Molly mentioned that, while she did feel heard at the organization, she did not believe
that something concrete would happen from it and that additional training with clear instructions
on how to address certain situations would increase her knowledge and self-efficacy. She said,
I think I'd be taken seriously but I don't think necessarily that there's like an actionable
outcome from it. I'd spoken up about something that happened, and I brought it to a
leadership’s attention, and nothing. It didn't . . . it kind of ended after I talked to them
about it. They said that there would be like some follow-up trainings for staff how to
handle it. I think we talked once for like 15 minutes or something at a team meeting, like
an all-staff meeting, but there weren't trainings about how to empower us for that, which
is what I wanted to learn. That would make me feel a lot more prepared the next time
something like that happened.
Martha stated that she did not feel that she had the ability to make herself heard to the point
where she would have made a broader impact but that in isolated cases she had made a
difference privately. She said:
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 55

I think as an organization, I don't feel like I have the ability to change to broader threads
of how we talk about the university as a whole. But I delight in those discrete moments.
One time, I felt very empowered to say to a class leader that he was not bringing a
diverse conversation to our audience by picking all people who looked exactly like him.
He was a middle -aged white man. And he heard it. He would be open to suggestions and
recommendations for making a change. Those are small pieces. These are single events
or single talking points. I feel like I have discrete moments of being able to have an
impact and those moments give me some confidence that we can make a difference.
That's where I feel like I want to make sure that my colleagues also feel empowered to
raise moments of concern with what's being said in anything from a committee meeting
to a large-scale event, and that we're having those conversations. I don't think we're doing
it as well as we could.
Madison explained that she also lost confidence when the organization was not quite sure
exactly what it wanted. Her response is tied to both a knowledge gap—of the organization’s
inability to train its staff because of its lack of unawareness—and an organizational gap. She
offered:
It's not like they're . . . they're not purposefully trying to exclude folks. I think at this
point they just don't know where to go. They don't know how to change the history or
embrace diversity and continue to keep the legacy of [ECUAA]. I mean that's actually a
quote that somebody said to me. “How do you embrace diversity but keep the legacy?” I
said, well, by not saying things like that. I think that's where they fall down. I don't think
it's for lack of wanting it to be different, but I don't think they get the same . . . They don't
get the same effort and I just don't think that they under . . . They just don't know where
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 56

to go, I think at this point and they just need some direction. It doesn’t really give you a
lot of confidence as an employee when the people who are supposed to tell you what to
do, don’t really know it themselves.
Erica said that she knew what she needed to do but that it was very much dependent on
others and that additional training would make her feel a lot surer of what she was doing and also
give her clarity on the goal. She said:
I think it could be helpful to (have) some kind of training from a communication expert
on how to reach diverse populations 'cause it's something . . . I don't really know anything
specific on it. 'Cause right now, I think, as I mentioned, it kind of feels like you're going
with your gut or common-sense. Or what feels right or what you think would resonate or
what you think is being sensitive to someone's experience. But, it's kind of just like a gut
thing or a common-sense thing.
Erica’s response indicated that her self-efficacy was connected to her knowledge of how to
achieve minority alumni engagement and also that the organization needed to be clear and
purposeful about the goal, as discussed further in the “Organizational Influences” section below.
Elise mentioned that she felt that “if [she] had a better idea of how to engage minority
group or how to be more representative of minority group, [she felt] like of course it would be
heard.” However, she said that, while her idea might be heard, the complicated structure of her
work projects made it difficult for her ideas to necessarily come to fruition.
Erin expressed confidence that she would be heard by the organization if she had an idea,
and that the organization would help her follow through. She stated, “I think the ECUAA is a
really supportive organization. I personally don't feel it's super hierarchical. And I think that
ideas are very well reciprocated, and people are happy to have you run with something. So yes.”
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 57

The motivation influence findings show that while the staff valued the concept of
minority alumni engagement as individuals, there was a gap between their own understanding of
the value and what they perceived as the organization’s commitment to the goal. The findings
also showed that there were some self-doubts about creating change and implementing new
programs because they felt that they might lack the training to do so, that they may not be heard
by leadership, and even if they were heard, no concrete actions may come out of it.
Organization Findings
Organization influences may hinder the accomplishment of goals by stakeholders and the
organization as a whole (Rueda, 2011). Schein (2017) has defined organizational culture as a
shared learning experience within an organization that helps members of that organization solve
internal issues and become acclimated to interacting with external constituencies. These cultural
processes within organizations have two parts. The first is what Rueda (2011) called cultural
models, which are the shared schema of how an organizational process and structure is shaped by
identifying and implementing its values, practices, policies, and incentive structure. The second
part is the cultural setting, which includes social contexts that help illuminate some of the visible
aspects of an organization’s culture. This study assumed a cultural model influence of the
organization’s valuing the concept of minority alumni engagement, while acknowledging past
historical injustices, and a cultural setting influence of incorporating a diverse staff body and
diverse volunteer leaders.
Cultural Model: Valuing Minority Alumni Engagement and Acknowledging Past
Historical Injustices
At the end of the literature review, this study assumed a cultural model influence of the
ECUAA’s needing to value minority alumni engagement as an organization and acknowledge
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 58

past historical injustices faced by its minority alumni. A document analysis of internal leadership
emails; emails to the alumni body from ECUAA leadership and to the alumni body from the
administrative and academic leadership of ECU; and regular e-newsletters showed that ECUAA
was attempting to correct the record of the past. Analysis also revealed that the organization was
trying to acknowledge the difficult environment faced by minority alumni during their time in
college and to create an environment of inclusion and belonging. Examples of these documents
included alumni-wide emails regarding changes in how the university planned to recognize
slaves who had worked in service of the university administration and the removal of names and
recognition on campus of those who had been revealed to be slaveholders.
Also notable was the creation of a new Inclusion and Belonging committee led by and for
alumni as part of ECUAA’s board activities, to discuss matters of importance, and come up with
solutions to any identified problems for the greater ECUAA alumni community in this area. The
review of meeting minutes and notes for the first few meetings revealed enlightening discussions
involving alumni—sharing of painful stories from the past, revealing episodes of “othering” that
alumni had experienced on campus and within the ECU environment—and spirited conversation.
An alumnus of color recounted an episode from over 3 decades ago when he was just moving to
campus to attend graduate school. His graduate school liaison mentioned that there was a realtor
there to help them with his housing and that there was an off-campus apartment available close
to campus. However, when the realtor met the alumnus in person, the availability of the
apartment suddenly wasn’t guaranteed, and the realtor offered to follow up with additional leads
at a later date. The alumnus mentioned that the realtor never followed up with him and that he
had to struggle to find a place to stay with his family. Another alumna mentioned that she did not
feel that she was included in the social activities of her residence hall because of her skin color
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 59

and the fact that her dormmates might have assumed that she may not have the money to
participate in their activities.
Mary and Erin highlighted this new initiative as a positive step and especially appreciated
the organization’s openness to allowing several staff members to participate. Mary stated:
The initiative in belonging and inclusion, everyone's been working at the small table
approach where groups are just in groups of no more than three and I've been
participating with them. They get deep and intense, very confessional and soul bearing. It
just takes one person to open up and be raw, everybody else will follow. And that's when
you get your break through moment. It shows the value of allowing people to reflect in
small groups in a safe space.
Erin said:
We now have the initiative in the board, the inclusion and belonging group which I think
it's going to be really important to see what comes of that and what action steps are taken
with that. I think it is helpful to be able to work out problems together with the alumni
and it is a great learning opportunity because we have not lived their experience.
Alternatively, Erin also pointed out that no one at the ECUAA had a specific job responsibility
or a job title that focused on minority alumni issues, which could send a message that the
organization did not value minority alumni engagement. She asserted:
Most other schools have someone who's a diversity and inclusion officer on their alumni
relations team. I think there's something to be said about having an actual title that's
called that. And we have someone who's basically doing that, so it's not even like adding
a new position, it's just the title. I think it shows that the university really cares, and that's
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 60

what they're motivated about when that's a position title. So yeah, I think that's one way
to show that you value this goal.
Madison, who also had a chance to participate in the new inclusion and belonging group,
mentioned feeling hopeless because while she appreciated the importance of engaging minority
alumni, she felt that leadership did not always embrace the true spirit of doing so. In other words,
while many of the staff understood the value of minority alumni engagement, she said that she
was not so sure that leadership did. She said:
It's just apparent that I do believe that there's a huge problem in the organization as far as
being able to value minority alumni. But there's so few voices that are actually
formalizing it that I think it's getting lost. I think that we do surveys and we have these
talks about things that are so surface level that we don't ever really get to whether or not
there's a problem because I don't think we want to admit to a problem even in terms of
the diversity and inclusion and belonging group. You know, early on I was told, well you
know, we've gotta be careful what we say because we don't want to hurt someone's
feelings. And I was like, hurt someone’s feelings? But if we're committed to making
change, if we never get to the point where we're actually talking about what's really going
on and what the real problems are, we're never going to change anything. I just feel like
it's lip service. Like we talk a lot about it internally as a staff and also with the alumni and
the alumni feel it too.
Eric said that the ECUAA “can be a lot more intentional” in how it directed the content
and programming of its alumni-focused events, especially reunion events managed by class
committees. He felt that trusting the class committees was “not necessarily going to enact
positive change since those committees are more willing to continue from their own blinded
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 61

perspectives and leaving their classmates out again, after they did the same three or four decades
ago.”
Mary further mentioned that a formidable barrier was the inability to have a discussion
“on a personal level within the organization,” and that “there was no opportunity to have an
honest discussion and be vulnerable and really face the challenges rather than worry about what
it might look like.” Mary felt that the new diversity and inclusion group was helpful and that the
organization was following through on positive discussions with concrete actions, especially
when it came to managing episodes of microaggression in the workplace. She felt that not
supporting the staff meaningfully brought into question whether the organization valued its
minority engagement goals meaningfully. Mary stated:
We're not walking the walk. And I mean everyone loves their jobs and then I'm also
gonna say that people can't be dismissive about micro aggressions because they're
happening here. And I hear about it and I'm close to specific people on our team. And I
know that there are unbelievable micro aggressions going on that have been raised to the
management level that have been dismissed. Where it's just, oh I don't think that person
meant that. A concrete example was when during a lunchtime discussion between two
employees, they discovered that they both worked at a chain retail clothing company. But
the person who was white then mentioned to the person of color that “my store wasn’t in
the inner city” without the slightest prompting or even knowing where her colleague had
actually worked. And then to bring that to the attention of management and having it
really dismissed and saying things like “don't think that was the intention” feels like they
do not take it seriously. It doesn't feel good. It doesn’t matter what the intention was,
what matters is how it was received. It doesn't feel right and then to see that person get
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 62

advanced within weeks to another role. Just feels like executive management needs to
have sensitivity training and I don't think the diversity and inclusion for the management
level workshops are even enough to address that type of situation. Do you know what I
mean? And there have been a number of these micro aggressions. Then it is hard to
expect the staff to follow the goal of engaging minority alumni when they themselves are
not being engaged meaningfully. And then when people of color leave the team, they
wonder why. Well the answer is pretty clear. It’s not really always a comfortable
workplace.
Mary’s comments also show that the lack of institutional response to workplace
microaggressions influenced the cultural setting of staff diversity at ECUAA, which, as the
literature review has shown, had an effect on how the organization as a whole engaged minority
alumni.
Martha felt that sometimes there was a strong tendency to pretend that past experiences
were in the past and that they did not affect present engagement,’ something that the organization
struggled to manage. She said:
I think there's a strong sense to try to put rose-colored glasses on people's experiences. It's
like oh, no. No, no, we don't need to pretend that was absolutely fantastic because we
know that we've done a terrible freaking job. And we continue to stumble.
Furthermore, Martha mentioned that there seemed to be a conflict between the organization’s
approach of looking to the future while honoring its past. She stated:
I think one of our major hurdles is ensuring that our closest alumni volunteers, many of
whom are white, understand why we're making the choices that we're making. We like to
say honoring the past, staying to the future. It's that honoring the past piece that I think
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 63

we get really stuck on. We don't do a great job and I think we see a lot of this around
managing communication with alumni as they respond to what is going on campus. If
something from the past is changed, we almost get defensive. Those issues of personal
experience and how people feel just so connected to that past, and it almost feels like it's
an assault to say that there might be something wrong with it now. There are so many
hard conversations that we all have with alums who are not interested in understanding
any side, folks who think that any sort of interest in showing diverse perspectives is an
insult to their experience. And we are not ready to come out and flatly say, “Well you are
wrong.”
Martha also mentioned that the organization was unable to hire a diverse staff as it failed to dig
deep into available research from the institution itself. She said:
Yeah, I don't know how we're going to continue to improve. I think that I've had a lot of
conversations with HR about our hiring practices and I am horrified consistently that as
an organization, we do not take the research studies that come out of our schools that tell
us about how to have more fair hiring practices, and we don't implement those because
we have historic ways of doing things. It's ridiculous to me that we are not taking our
own advice as an institution for how we do hiring. I had to check a box to have one of my
postings be made available to more diverse groups. Some of that has changed over the
past year but there is a lot to be done.
How the ECUAA was faring in creating a diverse workforce is examined as a cultural setting in
the following section.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 64

Cultural Setting: Having a Diverse Alumni Relations Staff and Alumni Volunteer Bodies
A second organizational influence the study assumed was a cultural setting influence of
the need for the ECUAA to have a diverse alumni relations staff and alumni volunteer bodies.
Document analysis of staff diversity data from human resources showed that only about 10% of
the ECUAA staff members was a racial or ethnic minority. While no clear data were easily
accessible regarding the percentage of minorities on the board and affiliated committees,
anecdotal data from the interviewees suggested that the percentage was slightly better for the
executive board, but overall approximately the same for all elected and appointed officers.
Of the interviewees, Elise mentioned that the organization had not articulated what
effective minority alumni engagement was, to her understanding. However, the organization did
undertake engagement based on the affinity groups that it supported and, to the best of her
understanding, the feedback from those was positive. But she mentioned that she did not know
how much capacity the organization had to do more of it. She said,
I don't know if I have ever heard articulated what is considered top tier engagement for
minorities, and what's considered low tier engagement for minorities. Anything that we
do that focuses on minority engagement is I feel like we do well and I feel like it has a
response with our alumnus. I'm just thinking of Black Alumni Weekends, Asian-
American Weekends alumni weekend. I am not sure if there is one for Latino alumni.
The ones we do have are not annual but every few years. There's a need for them and
then when we out something together it's popular and it's well attended, and we get
positive feedback from it. But I don’t know how we can do it every year or at least more
frequently than now, which seems like a necessary I just don't know . . . that's a lot of
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 65

groundwork in terms of staff time, money, space on campus and I guess just not having
enough staff.
Elise also mentioned that ECUAA needed to do a more conscious job of diversifying its
alumni. She said that “the same fifteen names bubble up every time and those may not be the
best people or the most representative of our alumni population.” She continued by saying that
“sometimes board positions ended up going to the person who waited the longest and that may
not be the right way to go about it.” On a similar note, Mary said:
I've heard even in meetings when we start to talk about the board, I've heard valued
colleagues say, hang on a minute. We're saying our goal is this, we want to diversity our
volunteer leaders and now you're putting together the Google doc but you're putting all of
the same people on the Google Doc and that's not representing the diversity that we're
saying we want. There's a mismatch. The intention is there but the practice . . . It's almost
as if we don't have the time to be thoughtful or resting on our morals and then . . . I think
some really deep and intentional sensitivity training has to happen at the management
level, people that really start to get it.
Along the same topic, Madison felt that individuals on volunteer committees sometimes suffered
from “tokenism.” She said:
I mean it's not even hidden. It's completely obvious. When we had, this is going to sound
really bad. I don't know if it's intentional or not, but I think that whenever the university
as a whole kind of finds itself in some kind of hot water, when it comes to diversity and
inclusion, that's when they start bringing out, you know, folks who we've never even seen
before, that we don't know anything about, that have not actually worked their way up.
And they become the leaders. They kind of get shoehorned into these positions where
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 66

you can visually see them, but you don't see them anywhere else. It's only in times when
they feel like they've either missed the boat or they're in trouble.
Martha mentioned that the organization did not do enough setting a public example of its
intentions she said:
I feel like we do a terrible job about public accountability. For instance, there was this
faculty talk and an alumnus from the audience made this comment that was viciously
stereotypical of Asian Americans. But none of the people from the stage said anything
and the moment passed. I think we do a horrible job with that and I talk to folks who,
we're good at having a one-on-one conversation, sometimes with the making an
uneducated statement and with individuals who are having an issue, but we don't do a
good job about setting a public example of appropriateness.
With respect to diversity of the ECUAA staff itself, Eric mentioned that, while the
diversity of the staff almost certainly could be improved, he was not so sure that the quality of
the work would change necessarily and that, with organizational support, the current staff could
achieve some of the objectives on their own. He said:
I think the racially identities of the staff is not as diverse as it could be. However, I do
think that the people who are involved and who are working are thinking about this in a
way that at least is trying to grapple with how do we invite people of different
communities back to participate in multiple ways of engaging the university. I guess my
answer is two-fold. If you're just looking at the diversity in terms of the identities of the
staff, yes, a lot can be done there. But in terms of the actual work that the staff is doing
and taking on and thinking about, I think there's a lot to be said about that and a lot of
good things to be said.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 67

Molly, Erica, and Mary suggested that the organization needed to be clear to staff about
what the barriers to alumni engagement were, rather than assuming that the staff would just
know them and be able to overcome those barriers on their own. Participants also mentioned that
the organization needed to be more “prescriptive” about how to tackle those barriers and that
doing so would provide greater confidence in doing the work. Molly said:
It would be great for the organization to be one, purposeful, and two prescriptive in this
area. Purposeful that it backs up its words with actions, and prescriptive that those actions
are clear in the steps that staff can take and actually make meaningful change. I don't
think that right now that even being there for as long as I have, I don't feel like I have the
tools necessarily, or the confidence to be able to do this work and I am doing most of this
based on my gut. I do feel that it would be great to have some kind of clear direction from
the organization, from leadership.
As we saw in the self-efficacy section above, Erica mentioned that she needed “more training
and more direction” toward engaging minority alumni. She explained that leadership might feel
that some things are just understood, and that the staff had enough “common sense” to
understand that minority alumni engagement was important and would know how to achieve it.
Mary, who agreed with this notion, said she felt that “the organization needs to sometimes just
spell it out and do more work at the staff level including increasing staff diversity.”
Erin and Erica also suggested that they did not have enough opportunity to learn from
other peers, beyond the few universities that formed their natural peer group. Erin said that ECU
was a part of a small group of eight to 10 institutions that were similar both historically and
academically. She said that she participated in one session and immediately learned how
ECUAA affinity groups were managed differently from other peer schools. In her words:
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 68

From what I can tell we're pretty different from our peers in terms of how we organize
and manage (affinity groups) because we all of our groups manage themselves. They're
all their own type of super organizations. Most other peer schools manage all of it, they
manage their programming and their board structure and all of that. Maybe it will be
helpful for us to be more intentional, hands-on I guess than we are now. But I would like
to see more of these opportunities to learn and perhaps from some other institutions who
are different from us but may have good ideas.
Erica mentioned that she attended the same session but that “diversity did not come up in (her)
session but may have come up in other sessions. But these schools are the same schools we talk
to all the time.”
The organizational influence findings show that while ECUAA leadership might have
had great intentions, there was a clear conflict between honoring its past legacy and looking to
the future. In other words, the staff felt that there was no way the organization could mention the
past as a whole and still engage minority alumni effectively, and that the organization had an
inability to vocalize publicly the aspects of the past that it clearly did not support and for which it
was trying to amend. There was also a feeling that the organization took steps to manage the
“optics” of situations rather than enact meaningful change. The data showed that this aspect
manifested in the way the organization filled board positions. The data also showed that the
organization had difficulty maintaining a diverse staff, which promotes better engagement
opportunities with diverse alumni, because of what the staff perceived to be a workplace that did
not address microaggressions effectively and its inability to use novel and thorough hiring
practices.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 69

Solutions and Recommendations
Knowledge Recommendations
For this study, the different types of knowledge an employee can acquire have generally
been categorized into four types: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive (Krathwohl,
2002). Factual knowledge is the most basic type of knowledge an individual must have to
perform a task or to solve problems within a specific field. Conceptual takes this basic
knowledge a step further and represents complex and organized forms of knowledge, which
require the individual to understand the interrelationships between the elementary parts of a
larger structure of information. Procedural knowledge deals with the method or technique of
achieving a task. Finally, metacognitive knowledge is the consciousness of knowledge itself, and
the self-awareness of an individual’s own cognitive level and needs (Krathwohl, 2002; Mayer,
2011).
This study focused on one procedural and one metacognitive influence, which would
provide the framework against which the knowledge and skills of ECUAA staff were analyzed.
Table 5, below, summarizes these knowledge influences and recommendations for those
influences. The procedural knowledge influence that was prioritized was for staff to know the
barriers that were preventing the engagement of minority alumni with the ECUAA through the
three engagement vehicles—communication, participation, or service—and then identifying the
best practices to overcome it. The researcher highlighted the procedural knowledge influence
because it addresses the core need for ECUAA staff to truly understand what prevents minority
alumni engagement and elucidates how staff could implement new minority alumni engagement
programs by overcoming these barriers. The metacognitive knowledge influence that was
prioritized was the self-reflection of ECUAA staff on their own strengths, weaknesses, and
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 70

abilities toward achieving their goal of implementing new minority alumni engagement
programs. This influence has been prioritized as the resulting information from such a self-
reflection exercise is an example of metacognitive knowledge. Such metacognitive knowledge
can provide personal insights, a greater understanding of needs and knowledge gaps, and what
skills the staff may need to be successful at the goal (Rueda, 2011).
Table 5
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Knowledge Influence
(C - Conceptual; M - Metacognitive)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Staff need to know the barriers that
prevent the engagement of minority
alumni with the ECUAA through the
three engagement vehicles –
communication, participation, or
service – and then identify the best
practices to overcome those barriers.
(C)

Social interaction, cooperative
learning, and cognitive
apprenticeships (such as
reciprocal teaching) facilitate
construction of new
knowledge (Scott & Palincsar,
2006).
Use hands-on training to provide
sufficient scaffolding and tools to
facilitate learning and performance,
then gradually withdraw scaffolds
as learning progresses and
performance improves.
The staff, as a group, needs to reflect on
its own strengths, weaknesses, and its
ability to support the engagement of
minority alumni. (M)
The use of metacognitive
strategies facilitates learning
(Baker, 2006).

Provide opportunities such as
diversity education to staff to
engage in guided self-monitoring
and self-assessment. Model
metacognitive process by talking
out loud and assessing strengths and
weaknesses.

Conceptual knowledge. The results and findings of this study showed that ECUAA staff
needed more conceptual knowledge regarding the barriers preventing minority alumni
engagement at ECU and to identify the best practices in higher education to overcome those
barriers. A recommendation based on sociocultural theory has been selected to overcome this
knowledge gap (Clark & Estes, 2008). Scott and Palincsar (2006) found that social interaction,
cooperative learning, and cognitive apprenticeships facilitate construction of new knowledge. As
Table 5 shows, this effort would mean providing the staff ample scaffolding and support to
enhance learning and then gradually withdraw those supports as performance improves. Hands-
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 71

on training programs with simulations of scenarios, tips, and suggestions on how best to address
tacit racism and microaggressions committed by alumni toward other alumni of color, and
information on how best to create more diverse candidate pools for committees and boards
would be examples. Another example would be to provide the opportunity to visit universities
and college campuses that are seeing a high engagement of minority alumni. Staff can learn the
barriers that those institutions have overcome while learning the best practices they have used to
overcome them. These training programs and visit opportunities form the scaffolding and
support system that the ECUAA staff need to conceptualize the barriers preventing minority
alumni engagement at their own campus.
Weerts et al. (2010) recommended an evaluation of what is currently accepted as the
standard definition of alumni engagement and whether solutions can be proposed to improve the
definition to positively impact the engagement of minority alumni. Such an exercise can be
pursued through interactions with peer institutions, which can help ECUAA staff enhance their
conceptual understanding of the processes needed for minority alumni engagement. Furthermore,
Gasman and Bowman (2013) emphasized the importance of learning from the best practices of
engaging minority alumni to overcome the barriers to minority alumni engagement. Best
practices in the field are strategies to overcome constraints. To identify these constraints and find
strategies to overcome them, the authors recommended interacting with peer institutions and
learning from them. Even if a solution itself is not discovered, strategies to help manage the
barriers in minority alumni engagement can be useful in and of themselves.
Metacognitive knowledge. The results and findings of the study also showed that
ECUAA staff, as a group, needed additional opportunities to reflect on its own strengths,
weaknesses, and ability to support the engagement of minority alumni. Information processing
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 72

system theory provides a recommendation to address this gap (Clark & Estes, 2008). As we see
in Table 5, above, Baker (2006) stated that the use of metacognitive strategies facilitates
learning. Such a facilitation can occur if staff are provided opportunities to engage in guided self-
monitoring and self-assessment along with encouraging them to model metacognitive processes
by talking out loud and assessing their own strengths and weaknesses. Such an opportunity for
self-reflection could be created by providing diversity education to staff.
Kulik and Roberson (2008) stated that the very existence of diversity education often
leads staff members to self-reflect on their own beliefs and diversity knowledge because of the
institutional commitment to such principles. This form of self-reflection can be a metacognitive
exercise because it is a self-assessment of knowledge and beliefs that staff members already
possess (Baker, 2006; Rueda, 2011). Kulik and Roberson (2008) also stated that diversity
education and the resulting self-reflection can lead to identifying and addressing implicit bias
through improvements in diversity skills and behaviors among the staff, which in turn enables
them to be effective advocates for engaging minority alumni, as seen in Garvey and Drezner
(2013).
Motivation Recommendations
Rueda (2011) defined motivation as the factor that drives individuals to success in their
goals and ensures persistence in a task to completion. Furthermore, motivation is the quality that
leads individuals to believe in their abilities and their own faculties to engage in and complete a
task successfully. While evaluating a performance problem at an organization, it is important to
have an understanding of how the motivational influences of employees are contributing to the
problem (Clark & Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011). Research has suggested that motivation is best
examined by looking at active choice, persistence, and mental effort to determine the source of
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 73

motivation needs (Clark & Estes, 2008; Mayer, 2011; Rueda, 2011). While there are a number
of motivational theories, this study focused on two specific theories: expectancy value theory and
self-efficacy theory. Eccles (2009) maintained that expectancy value theory relates to the value
an individual places on a certain task and that the value, coupled with a self-belief in their ability
and high expectations of success, increases their performance. This value can be ascertained in
four ways: (a) intrinsic value, which is the satisfaction an individual feels, or expects to feel,
when performing the task; (b) attainment value, which is the connection between the task and the
individual’s own identity and inclinations; (c) utility value, or how well the task will fulfill the
individual’s own goals and plants; and (d) cost value, which relates to the cost that the task will
extract in the form of time, effort, and emotional investment (Eccles, 2009). A second type of
motivational theory is what Bandura (2000) has posited as self-efficacy theory. Self-efficacy
theory addresses a quality within individuals that deals with that person’s belief in themselves to
accomplish a task.
This study focused on the motivational value influence of ECUAA staff’s understanding
the value of the organization’s goal and the motivational self-efficacy influence for ECUAA staff
to believe in the need for change to achieve the organizational goal. Table 6, below, summarizes
these motivational influences and the recommendations for those influences.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 74

Table 6
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Motivation
Influence

Principle and
Citation
Context-Specific Recommendation
Value: Staff need to understand
the value of ECUAA’s goal of
100% minority alumni
engagement.
Learning and
motivation are
enhanced if the
learner
values the task
(Eccles, 2009).
Introduce rationales through training modules about the
importance and utility value of the goal. Expose
stakeholder to similar and credible models, which can
foster positive values.
Self-Efficacy: Staff need to
believe that they are capable of
implementing programs to
enhance minority alumni
engagement.
Feedback and
modeling
increases self-
efficacy
(Pajares, 2006).
Provide goal-directed practice through training programs
together with frequent, accurate, credible, targeted, and
private feedback on progress in learning and performance.
Provide opportunities to observe a similar and credible
model that has been successful.

Self-Efficacy. The results and findings from this study showed that that the ECUAA
needed to facilitate additional ways for its staff to believe that they are capable of implementing
programs to enhance minority alumni engagement. Self-efficacy theory provides a possible
recommendation for this motivation gap (Clark & Estes, 2008). As shown above in Table 6,
Pajares (2006) postulated that feedback and modeling increase self-efficacy. This study
recommends that the staff be provided with timely, truthful, and targeted feedback that is
detailed, “prescriptive,” and “step-by-step” along with immersion in a successful model, both of
which can boost self-efficacy.
Garvey and Drezner (2013) found that belief in a staff member’s own ability to connect
with the alumni and engage them played a major role, especially when the staff member
belonged to the same minority sub-group as the engaged alumnus. Paradise (2016), in a study of
139 community colleges, found that organizations in which staff believed in the concept of
alumni engagement and in their individual ability to enhance alumni engagement rates saw
overall rates of their alumni engagement rise, especially when coupled with increased resources.
An example of increased resources could be providing opportunities for staff to experience more
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 75

successful models of minority alumni engagement at various peer institutions and other
organizations, even beyond the world of higher education. Gasman and Bowman (2013) also
advocated learning from successful models at peer institutions.
Value. The results and findings of this study also indicated that ECUAA staff need a
better understanding of the value of ECUAA’s goal of increasing minority alumni engagement.
One recommendation based on expectancy value theory has been selected to overcome this
motivational value gap (Clark & Estes, 2008). Eccles (2009) stated that motivation is increased if
the learner values the task more. As Table 6 shows, using specific training modules to introduce
rationales about the importance and utility value of the goal and exposing ECUAA staff to
similar and credible models can foster positive values; an example would be reinforcing the
organization’s goals of minority alumni engagement in training and professional development
programs or learning from successful models of minority alumni engagement programs at
credible peer institutions. These could be combined with the training within the knowledge
recommendations above.
In the alumni engagement study referenced above, Paradise (2016) also found that that
organizations in which staff understood the value of alumni engagement had the most improved
engagement rates. Cabrera et al. (2005) found that sharing the results of alumni survey results
with staff and building training programs around those results helped staff see the value of the
initiatives being surveyed.
Organization Recommendations
Organization influences may hinder the accomplishment of goals by stakeholders and the
organization as a whole (Rueda, 2011). These influences are often related to organizational
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 76

culture or cultural processes, which are difficult to identify because they may often be invisible,
inaccessible, and relative to different stakeholders.
These cultural processes within organizations have two parts. The first is what Rueda
(2011) called cultural models, which are the shared schema of how an organizational process and
structure is shaped by identifying and implementing its values, practices, policies, and incentive
structure. Cultural models help identify some of the invisible aspects of an organization’s
cultural influences. The second part is the cultural setting, which includes social contexts that
help illuminate some of the visible aspects of an organization’s culture. The cultural setting is a
more tangible version of a social context and constitutes the fundamental questions whose
answers help improve organizational processes (Rueda, 2011).

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 77

Table 7
Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Assumed organization
influence

Principle and citation

Context-Specific
recommendation
Organization needs to
value engagement with
minority alumni, including
acknowledgement of past
historical injustices.
(Cultural model)
Organizational effectiveness
increases when leaders are
knowledgeable and consistently
learning about themselves and
their business (e.g., learning).
Participants engaging in
reflective work need to have
complete and accurate
information about the topic for
discussion, be free from bias,
and meet in an environment of
acceptance, empathy, and trust
(Mezirow, 1997, 2000).

Effective leaders are aware of
various
types of communication,
nonverbal communication,
storytelling, person-centered
communication, and how these
communication modalities
influence
change and the environment
within the
organization (Conger, 1991;
Denning, 2005; Lewis, 2011)

Develop a strategic and professional
improvement plan for the organization and act
on it. Demonstrate behaviors that are consistent
with your knowledge and beliefs. Demonstrate
a clear plan to address microaggressions within
the workplace and at alumni gatherings.
Expose yourself and your staff to new ideas.
Take time regularly to be reflective, and create
environments that encourage others to be
reflective as well.

Organization needs to have
a diverse alumni relations
staff and alumni volunteer
leaders. (Cultural setting)
Effective change efforts insure
that all key stakeholders’
perspectives inform the design
and decision-making process
leading to the change (Clark &
Estes, 2008).

Model the value of “cognitive diversity”
by expanding the membership of planning
teams to include diverse thinkers, people with
access to different networks. Regularly meet
with individuals from all areas of the
organization to share ideas with and get
feedback from them.
Generate ways to receive feedback that
encourage participation from people who are
afraid to tell you things.

Cultural models. Results and findings from this study showed that ECU needed to
exhibit clearly that the organization values engagement with minority alumni, including clear
acknowledgement of past historical injustices. Such change begins with effective leadership at
the ECUAA, who first need to constantly learn about their organization, be free from bias in
being reflective about the strengths and weaknesses of their organization, and create an
environment of acceptance, empathy and trust (Mezirow, 1997, 2000). This aim is realized
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 78

through a number of recommendations, as seen in Table 7, including understanding the
organization’s strengths and limitations, staffing the organization based on weaknesses that need
to be overcome, and developing an ongoing professional improvement plan for leadership and
staff, and ensuring action on it. The organization also needs to have a clear plan in place to
address and remove microaggressions toward staff in workplace settings and from settings that
include alumni, such as events and engagements. The leadership can also create an environment
that fosters innovation in this area by staying informed about trends and continuing to do
research and practice accordingly, demonstrating behavior that is consistent with the
organization’s beliefs and values, exposing the organization to new ideas, and engaging in
discussions about such ideas. Finally, through admitting failure, openly discussing how the
organization can learn from it, and taking time to reflect and create an environment so that the
staff can do so as well will enable the ECUAA to create an atmosphere in which learning from
self-reflection and self-examination and mutual discussion can thrive. ECUAA leadership also
needed to communicate effectively—internally and externally—about the steps being taken to
address the results of the organizational reflection using effective techniques such as storytelling
and person-centered communication (Conger, 1991; Denning, 2005; Lewis, 2011). Being aware
of how various types of communication approaches can influence stakeholders and knowing how
ECUAA’s organizational dynamics may determine different communication choices within an
organization are two recommendations to achieve this organizational change goal.
Agócs (1997) found that “inaction” was a primary reason for inhibited organizational
change processes. Inaction comes in many forms, ranging from active inaction to more passive
forms, including letting the passage of time be the elixir to solving organizational problems,
encouraging stakeholders to change rather than having the organization proactively change its
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 79

own processes, and showing tentativeness about initiating change processes for fear of risk to the
organization. All of these forms of change resistance at the ECUAA could send unintended
messages to both staff and outside observers that the ECUAA does not value engagement with
minority alumni. Research has shown that minority alumni engage positively with their alma
mater if the institution proactively shows that it highly values engaging with its minority alumni.
Gasman and Bowman (2013) have found that proactively stating what the organization is doing
to promote minority alumni engagement yields positive results in engaging minority alumni.
Williams et al. (2014) also stated that alumni associations should be intentional in their desire to
engage minority alumni by providing them a reason and a purpose to become a part of the
alumni experience. Such measures provide unequivocal signals to minority alumni that their
participation as alumni with their institutions are valued and treasured by their alma mater.
Cultural settings. Results and findings from this study also highlighted that ECU needed
to have a diverse alumni relations staff and alumni volunteer leaders. As summarized in Table 7,
effective change efforts can insure that key stakeholders’ perspectives inform the design and
decision-making process leading to change (Clark & Estes, 2008). To achieve that end, this study
recommends that ECUAA model the value of “cognitive diversity” by expanding the
membership of planning teams to include diverse thinkers and people with access to different
networks; regularly meet with individuals from all areas of the organization to share ideas with
and get feedback from them; and generate ways to receive feedback that encourage participation
from people who are reluctant to provide their opinions.
Lack of a diverse alumni relations staff has been identified as an impediment to effective
minority alumni engagement. Bowman (2010) found that while the college student population is
rapidly diversifying and that minorities will become the majority among U.S. college alumni by
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 80

2050, alumni engagement staff have not diversified as rapidly. This imbalance can lead to
problems with the interrelatedness of minority alumni and the staff in alumni associations. The
institution’s ability to effectively engage the minority alumnus/alumna may be hindered if they
feel that the lack of diversity among the staff reflects a deficiency of effort to acknowledge,
promote, and celebrate minority-related issues of importance to the minority alumni body. Cauda
(2014) found that specific outreach to Latinx alumni from Latinx alumni relations staff members
yielded positive engagement results. Gasman (2002) found that one way of drawing minority
alumni effectively into the institution was to recruit them as alumni volunteer leaders on boards
and committees. Gasman and Bowman (2013) also found that this exercise helped minority
alumni feel that the institution was serious about their engagement and also that board diversity
created effective and lasting change by engaging other minority alumni. They recommended that
recruitment be based less on filling gaps on the board than on organizational changes that need to
be made so that such volunteer leadership positions are more attractive for minority alumni to
pursue themselves. Williams et al. (2014) also found that alumni volunteer leaders who were
minorities helped improve organizational communication with other minority alumni and granted
effective representation of the institution among minority alumni groups. To ensure effectiveness
and ensure value of these suggestions, the recommendations here are accompanied by a detailed
Implementation and Evaluation plan based on the New World Kirkpatrick model (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). (See Appendix F)
Limitations and Delimitations
This study had several limitations, many of which were considered at the outset of the
study while others were discovered and identified during data collection. The ECUAA staff were
the stakeholders in this study. The sample sizes for the interviews were relatively small and, of
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 81

the 11 employees who volunteered, only eight completed the process of scheduling an interview
session and seeing the process through to completion. The reason for the small sample size could
be ascribed to a number of factors; there were limited resources, insufficient time was allocated
for data collection, and the busy time of year could have prevented robust participation. Other
causes may have been broader and more nuanced. The topic of the study itself might have made
employees unwilling to volunteer. Organizational culture, leadership commitment, and
transparency, and the fact that one of the organizational leaders sent out the original email
requesting participation may have caused the low sample sizes as well. As such, the study might
have been affected by participation bias since the staff members self-selected to volunteer. The
relative inexperience of the researcher might also have been a limitation in this study in terms of
how the questions were structured and the interviews were conducted.
While every care was taken not to influence the study results, the researcher was a
member of the broader organization within which the alumni association resided and was
familiar with the staff and the organization. These circumstances could lead to researcher bias as
well. The study also assumed that the participants were literate and knowledgeable enough to
understand the scope of the study and to comprehend the questions during the interviews, and
that they were truthful and candid in their responses. Finally, because the participants were all
volunteers, and the sample size was small, generalizability of the study results could be limited.
The delimitations in the designation of this study include the participants, which were
only the staff for the ECUAA. The participant pool could be expanded to staff at other parts of
the university, minority alumni themselves, and current minority students who will eventually
become alumni.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 82

Recommendations for Future Research
This study only considered the issue of engaging ethnic minorities who were alumni of
ECU and engaging them as a distinct group. The process of data collection revealed that the
student experiences of recent minority graduates differed from those of previous generations.
One of the interviewees, Eric, mentioned that while previous generations had to contend with
their personal identities as minorities as students, as there were very few individuals of color on
campus, current generations faced a socioeconomic incompatibility on campus that was far more
acute than the issue of identity because the student population was far more diverse than it had
been the past. Eric mentioned that the issue for more recent students of color was more on the
inclusion and belonging side than the diversity side. Future research could focus more on the
differences among more recent graduates of color and compare their stories, experiences, and
engagement factors to those of graduates of color from previous generations. Such a study could
also be expanded to compare and contrast the experiences of first-generation students and
financial aid recipients from various generations.
Another future area of study would be to look at distinct ethnic and racial groups
individually to further study whether their experiences as students differed based on what ethnic
and racial group they belonged to, how their individual backgrounds as minorities affected their
individual perspective, and whether their engagement with ECU as alumni differed as a result.
Additional minority alumni groups to consider include members of the LGBTQIA community
and the effectiveness with which they are engaged by the ECUAA.
Finally, this study considered the staff members as the primary stakeholder. The
stakeholder body could be changed to include the leadership of the ECUAA and various
members of the alumni body as appropriate.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 83

Conclusion
The purpose of this project was to study staff needs and preparedness to implement new
and innovative minority alumni engagement programs for ECUAA’s future. While it showed
that the staff needed more support, training, and commitment from the organization to meet its
goal of implementing new minority engagement programs, the study also indicated that the staff
were well-meaning, had clear personal motivations to do good, and were immensely dedicated to
serving the minority alumni community. With only a few small changes in the organization, a
revamped commitment from leadership, and the creation of support structures and learning
opportunities for staff, ECUAA could be poised to create a stronger alumni community by
specifically focusing on engaging minority alumni.
A broader takeaway from this study is that issues faced by people of color are often
ignored or missed simply because of implicit bias, unintended ignorance, or an incorrect
assumption by even the most well-meaning of organizations and leadership groups that
employees will simply have the common sense to do the right thing. Such a fallacy leads to poor
business practices and an inaccurate understanding of the motivations and experiences of people
of color. The organization of focus in this study is not an isolated example. Only with a targeted
approach to engaging people of color, a sustained attempt to really understand their experiences
and listen to their stories, and a focus on truly changing business practices to integrate those
experiences will organizations make strides in positively engaging people of color within their
communities.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 84

Appendix A: Document and Artifact Sampling and Protocol
Document and Artifact Sampling
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) noted that documents can be valuable tools for a researcher
in providing descriptive information to answer research questions. Through a content analysis of
ECU’s alumni communications documents, the researcher developed insights into how the
current organizational cultural models and processes might be impacting the ECUAA staff.
Interview questions were informed through a document analysis.
Document and Artifact Access Strategy and Rationale
For this study, the researcher examined publicly available official documents related to
ECUAA’s communications with its alumni. These documents included, but were not limited to,
alumni newsletters such as the ECUAA Alumni Gazette, the alumni magazine known as the
ECU Magazine, alumni email broadcasts and electronic invitations to events, websites geared
toward alumni, such as the ECUAA Alumni Web Dashboard and registration websites for
events, university news websites actively shared with alumni such as the ECU Gazette website,
and any other printed or electronic material, internal or external, that included alumni as an
audience, mentioned alumni, or discussed alumni. These printed documents include event
invitations, event programs and handouts, departmental viewbooks, and other such materials.
The rational for using these documents was to see the public message that ECUAA
portrays regarding its valuing minority alumni engagement and how that message might be
perceived by minority alumni. Specifically, each of these electronic and printed documents was
analyzed to see if it was addressing minority alumni directly or indirectly; if it was highlighting
issues of importance to minority audiences as identified through the literature review; and if tit
considered the way minority audiences consume and trust information as identified in the
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 85

literature review. The document analysis was also a way to see whether ECUAA proactively
acknowledged its past historical injustices toward minority students and groups. Document
analysis of on-campus news items and alumni-targeted communication provided a fuller picture
of campus events organized to discuss, address, and reverse past discrimination; policy
implementations meant to enhance diversity, inclusion, and belonging; and any changes in
practice to pro-actively address minority group issues and concerns.
Document Analysis Protocol
Date:
Start Time of Analysis:
End Time of Analysis:
Location:
Observer:
Document(s) Reviewed:
Conceptual Framework/KMO

Evidence of Procedural Knowledge
[current alumni communication practices may provide relevant information of what types
of communication resonate or do not resonate with minority alumni; if they highlight
issues of importance for minorities; and if they are communicated in a way that can easily
be absorbed by minority alumni]:

Evidence that might lead to enhanced Motivation
[current alumni communication practices may motivate staff to improve them or make
them more relevant.]

Other Organizational Influences
[that informs how current practices in alumni communications are affecting alumni
engagement at the ECUAA; and what ECU is actually doing to acknowledge, discuss and
correct injustices and discrimination of the past]

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 86

Appendix B: Interview Sampling and Guide
The stakeholders for this study were the 45 full-time staff members of the ECUAA
(approximate because regular staff turnover may have happened during the course of the study).
The 45 staff members represented all different levels of the organization, from staff assistants to
coordinators, assistant directors, associate directors, directors, senior directors and the executive
director of ECUAA. Staff assistant and coordinators were hourly employees who implemented
strategies, projects, and events planned by the management of the ECUAA. The management
group at ECUAA included all full-time salaried employees at assistant director or higher levels.
Assistant directors managed small projects with staff assistants and coordinators. Associate
directors managed multiple assistant directors and hourly employees and the projects they were
involved in executing. Directors managed the six main departments at ECUAA: board
management, affinity groups and clubs, undergraduate reunion events and operations, class
reports and reunion publications, university-wide alumni programs, and alumni travel programs.
Interview Sampling Criterion and Rationale
Criterion 1. Participants must be employed at ECUAA since that is the organization of
focus.
Criterion 2. Participants should be at various levels of responsibility in terms of seniority
at ECUAA to provide an in-depth evaluation of the knowledge and motivational gaps that staff
may have across different levels of responsibilities.
Criterion 3. Participants should be across all the different subunits of ECUAA to provide
an in-depth evaluation across different departmental roles with respect to alumni at ECUAA.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 87

Interview Sampling Strategy and Rationale
Staff members were first contacted by email to solicit interest in participating in the
study. The 11 individuals who responded affirmatively were coded in a spreadsheet by seniority,
years of service, and the department at ECUAA in which they worked. This action provided the
researcher a level of convenience as participants were self-selecting in this first stage of the
recruitment process. Of these 11, eight went through the whole process of scheduling the
interview and appearing for it. At least one of each of these eight interviewees was from each of
the six departments at ECUAA and was across various racial and ethnic groups represented
among the ECUAA staff. This breadth allowed us to study in depth the problems articulated by
the research questions (Creswell, 2014) across different experience levels at ECUAA and also
across the different roles in which staff may have been involved with minority alumni
engagement. Because each of the ECUAA departments engaged minority alumni in different
ways, and through different programs and events, interviewing employees from each of those
departments was an ideal way to get a full understanding of the current status and historical
overview of minority alumni engagement at ECUAA across all of its alumni-focused programs
and initiatives through all of its departments.
The sample identified from the staff was interviewed using an emergent design
methodology recommended by Creswell (2013) and Merriam and Tisdell (2016). In this method,
standard foundational questions were used in the beginning, which evolved as the interview
progressed, and answers from interviewees informed the structure of subsequent questions.
Therefore, while this design may seem not to present a well-defined initial strategy, it evolved
during data collection and was easily adapted to the changing conditions of the research study.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 88

The goal of these interviews was to facilitate the in-depth discussion of interview questions and
to identify information not previously identified or conceived during the research design.
Interview Guide
Thank you for volunteering to be a part of this study. As you know, I am interested in
finding out more about how ECUAA engages minority alumni and whether the staff have the
resources needed to development newer plans that engage even more minority alumni. Today’s
session will be about an hour.
Just so that I get your answers accurately and with full context, I would like your
permission to audio record this interview. I will be recording on this digital recorder and I am
just going to discreetly place this on the table. Would that be ok? These recordings would only
be available to me and used by me. I’ll be downloading them to a password protected cloud
service on Google Drive that is provided by the University of Southern California.
I also plan on taking written notes throughout so that I can clarify the interviewee’s
position or take notes to do further research or exploration on a particular topic that the
interviewee may have raised and also to ensure I keep the context of your answers accurate.
Would that be ok?
Also, please know your participation in this interview is completely voluntary and you
are welcome to stop the interview at any time, decline to answer a question or even withdraw
from being a participant in the study altogether. Your identity will be kept confidential at all
times and known only to me. Your identity will be coded, as will your answers, for final data
publication and in no way will it be possible to connect the dots to decipher your identity. I am

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 89

also bound by researcher ethics and standards that prevent me from disclosing individual
answers or identities that may make it possible for someone to know who you are.
So, do you have any questions for me before we begin?
Questions Influence Type
Please tell me a little bit about yourself and your role at the
ECUAA.
General background question
Would you tell me a little bit of how do you interact with
alumni broadly as part of your role? What about specific
interactions with minority alumni, either as part of your work
broadly with alumni or specifically just through engagement
programs with minority alumni? Do you feel minority alumni
engagement is different from non-minority alumni
engagement? If so, how? What are your experiences when you
actually do interact with minority alumni? Is it the same as
dealing with any alumni? If not, please describe how?
Knowledge - conceptual
How do you feel your work can contribute to improving
minority alumni engagement at ECUAA?
Knowledge - Metacognitive
In your engagement with minority alumni, what are some of
the things you might hear from them regarding the ECUAA’s
performance? Does that ever come up? Do they ever talk
about what ECUAA may be doing well or not well with
respect to their engagement by the organization? What would
you say are incentives or motivations for minority groups to
engage? Do they vary between different minority groups? How
does the engagement of different minority groups with the
University differ?
Knowledge - conceptual
Organizational cultural model
Now switching gears a little bit, how would you say the
organization is doing in its efforts to engage minority alumni?
What are they doing well? What can they do to improve?
What more do you think you need to engage minority alumni
either from the organization or in general? Are there any
hurdles or barriers that you feel? What more do you think you
need to engage minority alumni either from the organization or
in general? Are there any hurdles or barriers that you feel? Do
you ever interact with peers at other institutions or learn in
other way barriers they might be facing and best practices that
may have been developed to overcome similar barriers?
Organizational cultural model
Knowledge - Conceptual
Does the diversity of ECUAA staff affect its minority alumni
engagement efforts? Why or why not? Also, do you think the
diversity of the ECUAA Executive Board affect its minority
alumni engagement efforts? Why or why not?
Organizational cultural setting
Do you think ECUAA's minority alumni engagement
programs are important for you as an employee? Would these
Motivation - Value
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 90

programs influence you more to work for ECUAA? Why or
why not? Also, What is the impact on you when your
organization engages minority alumni? Is there a personal
impact beyond a professional impact?
How confident do you feel in your ability to contribute to
ECUAA's minority alumni engagement efforts? Why or why
not? Additionally, what contributes to your level of
confidence that the organization has provided the training and
resources for you to be able to engage minority alumni?
Motivation - Self Efficacy
Is there something during this interview that you wanted to
address regarding minority alumni engagement that we have
not covered that you would like to discuss?
General background question

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 91

Appendix C: Participant Information Sheet
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN STUDY
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles, CA 90089
INFORMATION/FACTS SHEET FOR EXEMPT NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH

Effective Engagement of Minority Alumni: An Evaluation Study.

You are invited to participate in a research study. Research studies include only people who
voluntarily choose to take part. This document explains information about this study. You should
ask questions about anything that is unclear to you.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the HAA’s minority alumni
engagement programs and initiatives with a specific lens on staff readiness and preparedness.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
If you agree to take part in this study you will be asked to participate in a 45-50 minute audio-
taped interview in person. You do not have to answer any questions you don’t want to and if you
don’t want to be taped, handwritten notes will be taken.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will not be paid for this study. Your alternative is to not participate. Your relationship with
your employer or the researcher will not be affected whether you participate or not in this study.

CONFIDENTIALITY
This is a confidential study and no identifiable information will be obtained in connection with
this study. Your name, address or other identifiable information will not be collected.
Additionally, your responses will be coded with a pseudonym and maintained separately. The
organization being studied will also only be identified by a pseudonym. All data for this research
study will be kept on the systems and servers of the University of Southern California and
protected by two-factor password encryption. At the end of the study, the HAA will be provided
a generalized report of the key findings. In the final published dissertation, the HAA will not be
identified and instead a pseudonym and generalized descriptions of the organization will be used
to avoid identification. All data will be destroyed after three years from the completion of the
study.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
Principal Investigator: Amartya Ray, amartyar@usc.edu via email or 617-875-9491 via phone

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
University Park Institutional Review Board (UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los
Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or upirb@usc.edu.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 92

Appendix D: Credibility and Trustworthiness
It was critical to establish credibility and trustworthiness in this study because the
researcher was employed by a department affiliated to the study site and because the researcher
played a major role in the data collection in this study. The researcher kept a record to check
personal biases stemming from affiliation to the study site, albeit not direct. Notably, the
researcher was also a minority alumnus of ECU and had the potential to be affected by the study
findings. The record includes feelings, emotions, reactions, interpretations, and questions the
researcher might have had at every step of the data collection, analysis, and interpretation
process. The researcher studied these notes continually to check on possible biases that they
might have and to reflect on the researcher’s positionality.
The researcher employed the technique of triangulation to increase credibility and
trustworthiness (Creswell, 2009; Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) of the data gathered,
the researcher, and the participants. Triangulation of the data was achieved in two ways. First,
the information from the document analysis was added to the descriptions and narratives
obtained from the interviews in the organizational influences section. Together, they helped
establish more credibility in the data gathered and also in the interview participants. Secondly,
the emergent qualitative design of the study itself helped in gathering in-depth data. That
participants themselves—through their responses—influenced the questions for future
participants in effect helped check researcher bias.
An additional step was taken to ensure credibility and trustworthiness which was to
include rich, thick descriptions from the interviews. Rich and thick descriptions and the use of
block quotes ensures trustworthiness and credibility as they can be detailed and different to the
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 93

point that they provide a complete and illuminating portrait of the problem of practice (Maxwell,
2012; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 94

Appendix E: Ethics
This research study involved the use of human subjects, which required informed
consent, the ability for subjects to participate voluntarily, and protecting the confidentiality and
secure storage of interview responses along with all study data (Glesne, 2011; Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). Ensuring these standards increased the trustworthiness of the study by enhancing
its validity and reliability (Creswell, 2014; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Participants were fully
briefed on the purpose of the study and were allowed to participate voluntarily. Volunteers were
provided with informed consent forms, which had details on the study, how the data was used,
how their confidentiality was protected, how the data was kept secured and confidential, and how
the data was stored. The researcher also explained to the participants that a pseudonym was
going to be used for the organization itself and that all participants’ names would be changed and
unique identifiers would be used to differentiate between study participants. All data were kept
electronically behind two-factor authentication on Google Drive, protected by the University of
Southern California secure Shibboleth password system. These data included all dissertation
drafts, data tables, transcribed documents, and any and all other forms of data. As a cloud-based
service, Google Drive minimized the risk of data loss through the theft of individual computers
by misplacing printed documents. Google Drive also provided file encryption both at rest, as
files remain stored, and in motion as dissertation drafts were shared with the dissertation chair
and committee members, thus ensuring that the data always remained secure and encrypted.
The researcher’s affiliation to the East Coast University Alumni Association (ECUAA)
was both personal and professional. The researcher is a minority alumnus from two of East Coast
University’s (ECU) graduate master’s programs. In addition, the researcher was an employee of
an affiliated unit of ECUAA at ECU. While the researcher was not employed directly by the
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 95

ECUAA, he was known professionally to employees at ECUAA. The researcher also had no
relationship—beyond a purely professional and collegial one—with any employee at ECUAA,
and their participation, as mentioned above, was purely voluntary. However, as a minority
alumnus of ECU, the researcher is committed to the success of the study, as it may potentially
contribute to the enhancement of minority alumni engagement by the ECUAA. Merriam and
Tisdell (2016) offered an “Ethical Issues Checklist,” which was consulted throughout the data-
gathering process to reduce any ethical conflicts of interest, and the dissertation chair was
utilized as an ethics advisor as recommended by the checklist.
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) also recommended continuous checking for researcher bias
as the study is designed, data are gathered, and, finally, data are analyzed and study conclusions
are reached. Bias is what the researcher may project onto the data based on beliefs and life
experiences along with how their positionality affects their interpretation of the data. This
researcher may have some internal bias based on being a minority alumnus of ECU. Both the
study design phase and the data interpretation phase were at high risk of influence through
researcher bias. The researcher guarded against this bias through the practice of peer debriefing,
self-reflection, and member checking, as recommended by Creswell (2014).

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 96

Appendix F: Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan
Implementation and Evaluation Framework
The integrated implementation and evaluation plan used for this study was the New
World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The process of evaluating training
and development programs is imperative to ensuring their effectiveness and value (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). The model consists of four disparate levels of evaluation that are followed in
reverse of its numerical order: (4) Results, (3) Behavior, (2) Learning, and (1) Reaction
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Each level of the evaluation model asks key questions
regarding the training intervention. In Level 4, the model examines whether the targeted
outcomes are seen in the work of the staff and if those outcomes were a result of the training,
support, and accountability content provided to them and what leading indicators would
determine this. In Level 3, the model explores whether participants are applying what they have
learned and what critical behaviors might determine that. In Level 2, the model seeks to find
whether participants gained the required knowledge, skills, attitudes, confidence, and
commitment. Finally, in Level 1, the model probes if the reaction of participants are positive and
if they find value in the training.
Figure F-1, below, shows the four levels of evaluation in the Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick
(2016) model.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 97

Figure F-1. The New World Kirkpatrick Model.
Reprinted from Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation (p. 11), by J. D. Kirkpatrick
and W. K. Kirkpatrick, 2016. Alexandria, VA: ATD Press.

Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations
As discussed before, ECUAA’s mission was to create and offer programs and events that
engage 100% of ECU’s alumni. To meet the standard of 100% alumni engagement, ECUAA’s
organizational performance goal was to meet 100% of minority alumni engagement. This study
evaluated whether ECUAA’s staff was successfully implementing programs for minority alumni
to engage effectively with the ECUAA. ECUAA staff was the primary stakeholder group
responsible for the creation and implementation of all the programs. It was also the group that
interacted directly with both the alumni and the leadership. Therefore, this study focused on
ECUAA staff as the primary stakeholder to determine its effectiveness in working with the
alumni and whether it was receiving the full support, training, and resources from ECUAA
leadership to be successful in its work.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 98

The ECUAA staff performed the critical functions that enabled ECUAA to make
progress toward its organizational goal of engaging 100% of ECU alumni. To this end, the
ECUAA staff had the stakeholder goal of creating a plan to implement new alumni engagement
programs by December 2019. The expectation and goal of the implementation plan is to provide
a comprehensive blueprint to ECUAA staff to achieve higher rates of minority alumni
engagement. This blueprint will include practical skills, tools, and strategies that the staff can use
to transfer their learning into improved results at work, to achieve their goal, and to
simultaneously evaluate their practices for future improvement. The following section explicates
each detail of the New Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
Table 8 illustrates the desired outcomes, metrics, and methods for the ECUAA and its
staff to effectively increase minority alumni engagement. There are four desired outcomes—two
internal, and two external. All desired outcomes are based on the recommended solutions to the
evaluated knowledge, motivational, organizational, and social influences.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 99

Table F-1

Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes
Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
External Outcomes
Increased attendance in
ECUAA programs and
events by minority alumni.
Number of minority alumni attending
ECUAA events such as reunion
events, networking events, academic
events, and other social events.
Tracking event attendance and using
self-reported race and ethnicity data to
ascertain minority alumni attendance.
Minority engagement
increases across all minority
groups.
Number of different minority groups
who are engaging with the ECUAA by
replying to communications,
submitting updated alumni
information, registering and
participating in events, volunteering
for service opportunities on the board
and elsewhere.
An extension to the above outcome by
tracking alumni engagement and then
cross-referencing the data with self-
reported race and ethnicity data to see
what the individual engagement rates
are for different racial and ethnic groups
(Asian, African American, Hispanic,
Native American, and bi-racial/multi-
racial).
Internal Outcomes
Staff feel that there is clear
and unambiguous
communication of the
organization’s goals in
minority alumni
engagement.
ECUAA staff are fully informed
regarding the organization’s
commitment to minority alumni
engagement.
Measured through responses to a
question built into the mandatory
performance management process
annually for each employee.
Staff feel there is more of a
prescriptive approach to
how each staff member,
across responsibilities, can
do more to increase
minority alumni
engagement.
Clear and concrete steps for each
department, and staff members within
it, to achieve increased minority
alumni engagement.
Annual pulse surveys of staff to ensure
that each staff member feels that there
are clear and concrete steps laid out for
them to execute and increase minority
alumni engagement.

Level 3: Behavior
Critical behaviors. The ECUAA staff was the stakeholder group for this inquiry. All
staff will need to exhibit these three critical behaviors in order to close the validated gaps in
knowledge and motivation that were found through data collection. The first behavior is that
ECUAA staff need to collect and analyze relevant data regarding minority alumni engagement.
The second behavior is that ECUAA staff as a whole and individually need to practice team and
self-reflection. The third behavior is that ECUAA staff need to visit other peer institutions and
also organizations outside the higher education realm to learn best practices in engaging minority
individuals. Each of these behaviors has a metric, which is used to measure the implementation
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 100

progress of the behavior, a method, by which the data for the metric is collected, and a timing,
which reflects how often the method is used to collect the data for the metric that measures the
progress of the behavior. For the first behavior, the quality and quantity of data collected through
monthly minority engagement reports and more comprehensive semi-annual data analysis reports
can be used to measure the relevant data regarding minority alumni engagement. For the second
behavior, reports from weekly self-reflection sessions at team meetings and individual self-
reflection reports as part of semi-annual self-reviews will provide the data to show whether
ECUAA staff are able to practice team and self-reflection. The specifics for each of these
outcomes appear in Table F-2.
Table F-2

Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation

Critical Behavior Metric(s)
Method(s)
Timing
1 ECUAA staff need to
collect and analyze
specific data regarding
minority alumni
engagement.
The quality and quantity
of data collected.
Monthly minority engagement
reports and more comprehensive
semi-annual data analysis reports.
Monthly
and every
6 months.
2 ECUAA staff as a whole
and individually need to
practice self-reflection.
Reports from team self-
reflection and individual
self-reflection that show
what knowledge has
been internalized.
Each ECUAA department practices a
few minutes of self-reflection at
weekly team meetings. Each
individual practices self-reflection as
a part of the performance
management self-review every six
months.
Weekly
and every
6 months.
3 ECUAA staff need to visit
other peer institutions and
also organizations outside
the realm of higher
education to learn best
practices.
Number of visits to
different, unique higher
education institutions
and other organizations.
Yearly visit reports that summarize
best practices that have been
identified from visits.
Yearly

Required drivers. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) added a dimension to their New
World Model known as required drivers, which offer a level of support and accountability to
ensure implementation of the solutions through reinforcing, monitoring, and encouraging
participants. At the time of this study, ECUAA currently did not have systemic self-reflection
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 101

processes as a team and as individuals, was not practicing comprehensive data analysis to
ascertain the level of minority alumni engagement, and was not encouraging staff to engage with
institutions outside the natural peer institutions of ECU. As such, the ECUAA staff did not have
the knowledge, motivation, and organizational support to close the gap on their own. The
required drivers identified will support ECUAA staff and reinforce what they have learned in
training to encourage them to apply what they have learned. A series of required drivers will be
used to support ECUAA staff and will include job aids, supervisor encouragement to practice
self-reflection and learn best practices from other institutions, performance incentives to reward
innovative and creative ideas learned from other institutions, and close monitoring to ensure that
staff are continuing to gather quality data, practice self-reflection, and visit other institutions to
learn best practices. Table F-3 details the recommended drivers to support critical behaviors of
the ECUAA staff, along with the timing of each.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 102

Table F-3
Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing
Critical behaviors
supported
1, 2, 3, etc. Critical
behavior 1 and 2 are
Reinforcing

ECUAA supervisors provide a job aid to all employees that assists them
in completing data collection on minority alumni engagement.
Every 6
months
1
ECUAA supervisors provide a team and self-reflection job aid. Every 6
months
2
ECUAA supervisors provide a job aid to assist employees to identify
best practices from peer institutions and others beyond the natural peer
institution group.
Yearly 3
Encouraging

ECUAA supervisors encourage self-reflection opportunities at every
team meeting.
Weekly 2
ECUAA supervisors need to encourage travel to visit other peer
institutions and institutions outside of the natural peer group.
Yearly 3
Rewarding

ECUAA supervisors reward ideas and suggestions from employees who
take initiative to learn best practices from peer institutions and other
organizations.
Yearly 3
Monitoring

ECUAA supervisors review the quality and quantity of data collected. Every 6
months
1
ECUAA supervisors track the number of peer institution interaction that
employees are having.
Yearly 3
ECUAA supervisors review the number of times employees fill out self-
reflections in their annual review.
Every 6
months
2

Organizational support. The organization has an important role to play in the
realization and implementation of the critical behaviors necessary to enable ECUAA staff to
successfully improve minority alumni engagement. Specifically, the organization will need to
foster a culture of openness, where communication is clear and transparent—not merely for
optics. Additionally, ECUAA must create an organizational, strategic, and performance plan that
enables them to be more prescriptive and clearer toward their staff members regarding the
broader organizational mission that prioritizes minority alumni engagement. Finally, the
organization will need to support people by encouraging and rewarding employees for new and
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 103

innovative ideas to enhance minority alumni engagement and by prioritizing resources to help
implement a change program throughout the ECUAA based on the implementation and
evaluation blueprint presented here. In the sections that follow, Level 2 and Level 1, the
remaining two levels of the New World Kirkpatrick model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016)
will be discussed.
Level 2: Learning
Level 2 of the New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016) focuses
on learning, or the degree to which ECUAA staff members acquire the knowledge, skills, and
confidence to do the specific tasks within their jobs in an improved manner that leads to
enhanced minority alumni engagement at the ECUAA. This level is determined and then
evaluated by the learning goals laid out below.
Learning goals. The learning goals for ECUAA employees to help improve the
organization’s minority alumni engagement programs are:
1. Using training programs and modules, implementing more team and self-reflection into
executing minority alumni engagement programs.
2. Using a new organizational strategic plan, following a more prescriptive plan for
minority alumni engagement.
3. Articulating clearly to all audiences why minority alumni engagement is important.
4. Analyzing practices from other institutions both in higher education and in other
industries..
5. Adopting innovative ideas and implementing new methods and processes.
6. Participating in sessions that help identify episodes of implicit bias and learning how to
remove them.
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 104

7. Creating an environment of diversity, inclusion and belonging amongst the staff.
Program. The learning goals listed above will be achieved through a blended training
program that combines monthly lunch sessions, semi-annual retreats, and online learning
sessions. The material will be presented in manageable portions to facilitate improved learning
and knowledge retention and provide opportunities for open and frank discussions (Kirschner et
al., 2006). Lunchtime sessions—lunch to be provided—are especially beneficial to promote
learning as they remove the stress that participants might accrue from overcrowding their full
schedules. Each of these lunchtime sessions would focus on one topic within the learning goal
but allow time for self-reflection, feedback, and open discussion in an environment of total
confidentiality and privacy for employees to encourage honest and frank conversations. The
semi-annual winter and summer retreats will be held away from the ECUAA offices and can also
involve a group visit to another peer institution, which might be the industry-accepted
benchmark for minority alumni engagement. If the entire organization of 50 employees cannot
participate because of size, multiple visits with smaller groups to different institutions can be
made. The online learning modules will focus on enhancing knowledge of organizational
processes, instructions, and training on gathering and analyzing data, and additional implicit bias
and scenario-based training. This multifaceted training program is codependent and, as we will
see below, one method of evaluation of the effectiveness of each component can easily be
conducted at one of the other components.
Evaluation of the components of learning. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s (2016) New
World Model cites five components of learning: knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and
commitment. The staff at the ECUAA must be able to show that they possess declarative
knowledge, or how to do the task, and have procedural knowledge, or the proper procedures to
MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 105

complete the task. The staff also need to show multiple aspects of motivation to complete the
task. First is their attitude and whether they see the benefit in completing the task; the second is
confidence and having the self-efficacy to complete the job; and third is commitment, or the
ability to stay the course and overcome any obstacles in completing the task. Table F-4 identifies
the recommended evaluation method and timing for each of the five components of learning.
Table F-4
Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program
Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Declarative Knowledge “I know it.”

Checking knowledge during online learning sessions through multiple
choice questions
From time to time during an online
learning session.
Checking knowledge through peer discussions and exchange of
information.
After online learning session.
Procedural Skills “I can do it right now.”

Each staff member can demonstrate that they can actively lead
discussions to check micro-aggressions.
Through observation during retreats.
Feedback during lunch sessions, retreats, and online learning sessions. During the respective sessions.
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”

Staff members’ comments on the context of the training sessions and
what they are being trained to do.
During each session and also during
feedback from each session.
Surveys before and after each session asking participants to comment
on the value of what they are about to/just learned.
Before and after sessions.
Confidence “I think I can do it on the job.”

Discussions with staff during the retreat and lunch sessions. During the retreats and lunch sessions.
Surveys before and after each session. Before and after sessions.
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”

Creating a personalized plan. During a lunch session.
Discussions during performance management session. Once every semester.

Level 1: Reaction
Level One measures stakeholders’ engagement, relevance, and customer satisfaction
reactions from a program experience (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Table F-5 outlines the
components to measure reactions to the program.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 106

Table F-5
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement

Completion rate of online training modules At the end of the training sessions
Observation of facilitator. During the online learning sessions and during the retreat
Relevance

Surveys after online sessions and discussion
during retreats.
Survey after every online session and discussion every six
months at retreat
Course evaluation Two weeks after each online module
Customer Satisfaction

Surveys after online sessions and discussion
during retreats
Survey after every online session and discussion every 6
months at retreat
Course evaluation Two weeks after each online module

Evaluation Tools
The evaluation of the training will use several methods to enable the trainers and ECUAA
leadership to understand the experiences of all the employees along with their learning outcomes,
which will enable the trainers to adjust the training program as needed. The sections below
summarize the evaluation tools used during and following the training program and the delayed
timeline recommended in the New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Immediately following the program implementation. As noted in Table F-5, the
trainers will conduct surveys after each online session and facilitate discussions during the
retreats to collect data on Level 1: engagement, relevance, and customer satisfaction. A sample
survey is shown in Table F-6. These data will help determine the overall understanding of Level
1 and Level 2 components by the stakeholders and the quality of the program and the material
being covered. While the survey can provide some data for Level 2, the trainers will ask the
participants to share additional knowledge snippets to demonstrate what they have learned and
share their new knowledge in peer discussion forums.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 107

Table F-6
Immediate Feedback Survey
Prompt Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neither Agree
nor Disagree
Agree Strongly
Agree
1. The training was
relevant to me.
1 2 3 4 5

2. The training was
interesting to me.

1 2 3 4 5
3. The training added
value to me.
1 2 3 4 5
4. I can immediately
apply what I have
learned.
1 2 3 4 5
5. I am confident in
applying what I have
learned.
1 2 3 4 5
6. The training allowed
for practice and
feedback.
1 2 3 4 5

Delayed for a period following program implementation. A second survey should be
implemented twice a year to evaluate the understanding of the program participants well into and
after the training has been implemented. Specifically, the survey should measure a participant’s
satisfaction and relevance of the program (Level 1), confidence in applying what they have
learned in the workplace (Level 2), the application of what they have learned in the workplace
(Level 3), and their overall performance in the workplace (Level 4). A sample survey is in Table
F-7.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 108

Table F-7
Delayed Feedback Survey
Prompt Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neither Agree
nor Disagree
Agree Strongly
Agree
1. The training continued
to be relevant to me
after a period of time.
1 2 3 4 5
2. I would recommend
the training to others.
1 2 3 4 5
3. The training continued
to be valuable to me
after a period of time.
1 2 3 4 5
4. I am able to
consistently apply
what I learned in the
training.
1 2 3 4 5
5. I continue to be
confident to apply
what I have learned.
1 2 3 4 5
6. I have been able to
demonstrate what I
have learned.
1 2 3 4 5

Data Analysis and Reporting
While the Kirkpatrick model begins with Level 4, and the successful realization of the
Level 4 external and internal outcomes will lead to achieving the organizational goal, for the
ECUAA, Level 1 is a more appropriate level to begin progress toward the goal. During the
interviews, multiple participants suggested the need for a more “prescriptive” approach for the
staff to pursue minority alumni engagement and proclaimed the organization’s need to clearly
show that the stated goal was truly meant to increase minority alumni engagement rather than
just to offer good “optics.” Therefore, the relevance and customer satisfaction components of
Level 1 are connected to addressing these gaps. Table F-8 shows a sample visual reporting
system to monitor Level 1.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 109

Table F-8
Evaluation of Organizational Changes and Readiness of Staff Training Modules to Increase
Minority Alumni Engagement at the ECUAA
Tools/Components Online Training Module Discussions with
Facilitator
Evaluation Progress
Engagement % Completed % Attended Did training participation
increase knowledge?
Relevance Immediate and Delayed
Surveys
Immediate and Delayed
Surveys
Did they feel that the
material helped in their
work directly?
Customer Satisfaction Immediate and Delayed
Surveys
Immediate and Delayed
Surveys
Did they feel that the
organization was
“walking the walk”?

Summary
The New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016) is used in this
integrated implementation and evaluation plan because of its flexibility for multiple training
needs and plans. Through the successful execution of the plan outlined above, it is expected that
ECUAA will be able to train and provide the tools needed by its staff to achieve the
organizational goal of increasing minority alumni engagement.

MINORITY ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT 110

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Asset Metadata

Creator Ray, Amartya Kumar (author)

Core Title Effective engagement of minority alumni: an innovation study

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 07/24/2019

Defense Date 05/30/2019

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag alumni engagement,alumni relations,alumni relations staff,minority alumni,minority alumni engagement,minority alumni relations,OAI-PMH Harvest

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