Resources For

· Business Students

· Business Faculty

· Business Alumni

· Employers

TCNJ Business Students visit Gallup, Inc.,
April 16, 2008

Brian McCracken, FBLA-PBL On April 16, Brian McCracken (Finance '09, pictured left) organized a visit to the Gallup Organization in Princeton, New Jersey. Frank Newport (Editor in Chief, The Gallup Poll) and Alec Gallup (Co-Chair of the Gallup Organization and son of the founder George Gallup) relayed with insight and candor how decisions based on the techniques and results of survey research are made at the highest political and corporate levels. They responded to questions and engaged School of Business students in dialogues concerning their personal experiences as well as their assessments of political and business strategies. Both were gracious hosts, spending over an hour on the discussion and questions.

The group was accompanied by TCNJ Adjunct Professor George Cerf, and - in addition to Brian - consisted of: Christine Allegretta, Gustavo Castillo, Caitlin O'Brien, Brian Ross, Stephen Scutellaro, Jacqueline Silvestrov, Allison Smith, and Alex Taormina.

For information about the Gallup Organization, see: About Gallup.

TCNJ Students, pictured below with Mr. Alec Gallup, comment on their visit.

Caitlin O'Brien: What I found most memorable from our visit was hearing how Gallup began. I think it's interesting that Gallup, at one point, collected data by selecting houses and literally going door to door. The old photos that hung on the walls of Gallup of these face-to-face surveys were captivating.

Stephen Scutellaro: The trip was a great experience. It was nice to see such history and prestige in a company with offices that were local. This broadened my ideas about jobs and opportunities in marketing and changed my views on polling and marketing research.

Jacqueline Silvestrov: It was interesting to gain insight from Mr. Newport and Mr. Gallup, and to find out how much thought goes into the survey process.

Allison Smith: It was truly an honor to be in the presence of such great minds. To have Gallup himself sit, talk, and joke with us was pretty remarkable. He encouraged our questions and was very receptive to each of our opinions. Although Gallup has stepped down doing much of the behind the scenes work, for someone who has made market research his life, he definitely still loves what he does.

Alex Taormina: An informational and experience-oriented journey into the world of polling, learning from the best of the best what they do to find out our country's opinion on every issue, especially politics.