The “Pots of Water” Emerging Framework for Alumni Engagement: Examining How Alumni Make Sense of Their Relationships with their Alma Maters

Abstract:This research note explores the factors that comprise alumni engagement and how they inform alumni relationships with their alma maters. I employ grounded theory utilizing interviews with highly involved alumni to elucidate elements that comprise alumni engagement and ways in which alumni weave them together to inform their ongoing relationship with their alma mater. I identify five central concepts within alumni engagement, each consisting of several subcategories: personal values, perceived institutional integrity, connectedness, commitment, and sense of fulfillment. Personal values are the foundational concept whereby strongly held beliefs about higher education determine alumni expectations of their alma mater, how connected they feel, how they interact with the institution, and the meanings they derive from these interactions. Alumni engagement is the coalescence of beliefs, thoughts, actions, and emotions about and towards their alma mater, and an individual's level of engagement is the degree to which they come together.