The Wisconsin School of Business values the connection to its alumni network, which is more than 45,500 people strong. As such, it is important to WSB to use data-driven approaches to track how the school is meeting alumni needs and to identify opportunities to better serve alumni. WSB formally receives this feedback through its biennial Alumni Pulse Survey. The 2021 survey was fielded to approximately 30,000 WSB alumni in November 2021 and garnered 700 complete responses.
Similar to the results from the 2019 survey, the majority of WSB alumni have a positive opinion of the school and are proud to be an alum. Many agree that an engaged alumni network is important and participate in a variety of activities offered by WSB—from attending events, volunteering on boards, joining the Alumni Voice Panel, giving financially, and participating in professional development webinars.
Connection
Connecting to other Business Badgers is also a high priority for alumni. More than one-third of respondents said that they want to connect with alumni in their field of work. WSB understands the high value of networking and has opened up several channels for alumni to build a robust business network. The LinkedIn Wisconsin Business Alumni Group is a growing platform for thought leaders to find other Business Badgers, post job opportunities, and share updates, best practices, and more. In addition, WSB has hosted several successful alumni-to-alumni and alumni-to-student virtual networking events with plans to continue to offer more of these events both in-person and virtually.
Event Opportunities
More than 60 percent of alumni now work at least partially from home from more than 40+ states or regions around the world. WSB has pivoted toward providing several new online initiatives that are more accessible, including sending Business Casual, a bi-monthly e-newsletter, and launching two new successful virtual events, The Business Of… and Badger Executive Talks. WSB is increasingly curating flexible learning opportunities such as webinars, courses, certificates, and badges to provide the highest level of accessible professional development content for alumni.
Staying Informed
Finally, with more than two-thirds of alumni reading communications, WSB strives to provide relevant and important information on school news, faculty research, alumni stories, and market trends. WSB does this through a variety of communication channels including the alumni magazine Update, WSB’s annual Report to Investors, alumni news blog, and Business Casual e-newsletter. WSB’s recent brand refresh and associated brand campaign showcases the stories of several alumni that illustrate the many ways that Business Badgers are trusted to lead. Alumni are invited to keep their contact information up to date and opt in to any of these communications by submitting an updated contact form.
The valued feedback shared by alumni in the 2021 Alumni Pulse survey helps the school to proactively identify opportunities to better serve the Business Badger community. Visit the detailed summary of the 2021 survey results for more information.
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