Alumni gratitude and academics: implications for engagement

ABSTRACT

Gratitude may help Universities to sustain relationships with alumni and stimulate valuable input into current students’ learning experiences. This small-scale, qualitative study draws from the voices of alumni associated with a UK University. The study explores gratitude’s role within alumni’s reflections on Higher Education. We find that alumni’s feelings of gratitude appear to resonate most clearly towards academic teaching staff. Despite these feelings of gratitude, there are few verbal expressions of gratitude from alumni towards academics. Indeed, alumni have a variety of concerns about saying thank-you to academics including feeling awkward and may even see saying thank-you as a sign of weakness. However, hidden expressions of gratitude are evident. Alumni engage in behaviour which benefits the institution and are prepared to do more if asked, especially by key academic staff. We suggest that it is useful to think of expressions of gratitude as known and unknown. The inequity between feelings of gratitude and known expressions of gratitude may mean that Universities and academics remain less alert to the evidence and potency of gratitude within Higher Education than reality would merit. Indeed, we argue that gratitude is a central idea with the ability to inform HEIs’ alumni engagement strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Alumni
• gratitude
• alumni engagement
• academics
• faculty
• expressions of gratitude

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fiona Cownie

Dr Fiona Cownie is Associate Professor within the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University. Dr Cownie’s research focus is a relational approach to HE and its implications for the student and alumni experience. She is particularly interested in the student/alumni-academic relationship and its importance to contemporary higher education. Fiona is an experienced educator and her teaching lies within the areas of relationship marketing and word-of-mouth communication. Dr Cownie has held a series of leadership roles within HE including leading student experience. She works internationally particularly with institutions within the ASEAN region.

Maria Gallo

Dr Maria Gallo, is a Visiting Research Fellow with the Centre for Social Innovation at the Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin. Dr Gallo’s work focuses on philanthropy and HE, primarily examining the role of alumni within policy, structure and strategy. Almost 20 years ago, Dr Gallo began her career as an advancement professional, working in both fundraising and alumni relations roles at the University of Toronto and University College Dublin. She is the founder of the social enterprise KITE- Keep in Touch Education that focuses on research, strategy and initiatives that build on alumni potential.