NATIONAL SURVEY SHOWS UT MARTIN ALUMNI HIGHLY SATISFIED WITH
COLLEGIATE EXPERIENCE
MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin partnered with Gallup Inc. in recent
months to survey university alumni and discover how their UT Martin experiences impacted
their lives after graduation. The results of an online survey, distributed in August and September
of this year, show intense alumni pride, as well as areas that need improvement.
Gallup Inc. received 2,623 survey responses, and UT Martin consistently scored higher than the
national average for percentage of alumni respondents who indicate a high attachment to their
alma mater. Questions such as “UTM was the perfect school for people like me” scored well,
with half of respondents strongly agreeing with that statement. This result is 16 percentage points
higher than the national average for college graduates who answered the same statement about
their own institution.
According to Gallup Inc., there are six factors that deeply affect the quality of a college
experience and the preparedness of a college graduate to enter the workforce. Three of these deal
with relationships between students and professors, and three address experiential learning
opportunities as they relate to post-graduation careers.
UT Martin alumni strongly agreed with statements such as “My professors at UTM cared about
me as a person” and “While attending UTM, I had a mentor who encouraged me to pursue my
goals and dreams.” These results reaffirm UT Martin’s long-standing reputation of caring faculty
and a student-centered approach. Surveyed alumni can attest that UT Martin faculty and staff
care about the long-term accomplishments of their students and want to help them succeed
however possible.
UT Martin respondents also showed higher-than- average participation in extracurricular
activities and organizations during their college years, although responses regarding long-term
project experiences and internships or jobs related to post-graduate career goals were low.
The university seeks to address this area with the recent establishment of the UT Martin Office
of Career Planning and Development, funded through the Soar in Four program, which
encourages students to graduate in four years. This office is designed to help students make
educated career decisions, gain relevant experience through internships, and learn skills such as
interview tactics, salary negotiation and job-search strategies.
Gallup Inc. maintains that these college experience and preparedness factors influence workplace
engagement and overall well-being later in life, and UT Martin alumni responses are positive in
these areas. UT Martin alumni indicated higher-than- average engagement with their careers,
which includes a sense of teamwork, clear expectations in the workplace, growth opportunities,
and individual recognition and sense of accomplishment on the job.
UT Martin respondents also consider themselves to be thriving in all five of Gallup Inc.’s well-
being areas, with all categories scoring higher than the national average for college graduates.
These areas focus on a sense of personal purpose and community belonging, social and physical
health, and financial management.
Gallup Inc. has conducted decades of global research surveying a representative sample of 98
percent of the world’s population from 150 countries.
For more information on this survey, or to see full demographic information for the response
pool, contact Charley Deal, associate vice chancellor of alumni relations, at 731-881- 7610.
