Summer 2004 Participants
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Seattle, WA
E-mail:
Educational Background: Ph.D. in Romance Languages & Literature
Current Job Title/Employer: Education Researcher, FACET Innovations, LLC, Seattle Washington
Work Experience: I spent the first 15 years of my professional life teaching foreign languages (including ESL) to students of all ages in the U.S. and abroad. Some of my positions included administration and outreach components, through which I gained some experience in teacher training, curriculum and assessment development, and program evaluation. The last several years, my career has veered away from the Humanities and toward the Sciences, involving me in the instructional design, development and evaluation of multimedia e-learning tools for the healthcare community. I also renewed my involvement in program evaluation, joining the evaluation team for two NSF-sponsored projects.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: Three of my former colleagues and I recently began a new company that provides k-12 education products and services for educators and institutions-including program evaluation. We are currently the external evaluators for an NSF CLT (Center for Learning and Teaching) at Texas A&M and an MSP (Math Science Partnership) in Washington state. My experience in multicultural settings has sensitized me to diversity issues within these large interdisciplinary partnerships and has prompted me to view them as intercultural encounters. I am interested in finding ways to consistently apply the theories of culturally sensitive evaluation to practice and to include the diversity of professional cultures within that endeavor. I would also like to refine instruments for tracking the development of partnership "identity" and capturing the impact of the collaborations that occur between participants of diverse professional backgrounds.
This summer, I hope to integrate the knowledge and experience I have gained professionally into a stronger, more coherent skill set for program evaluation. I am also eager to learn from other active evaluators and to work on establishing and maintaining a virtual learning community that will continue beyond the Institute.
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Knoxville, TN
E-mail:
Educational Background: Ed. D in Science Education, Master’s Degree in Chemistry
Current Job Title/Employer: Associate Professor of Chemistry and Mathematics, Knoxville College, Knoxville, Tennessee
Work Experience: I began my career teaching science and mathematics at the secondary level in all types of schools—public including urban, suburban, and rural, and private. I served as department chair and taught virtually all science and mathematics subjects commonly available at the secondary level. I left teaching and began a career in science education with the Department of Energy (DOE) , working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as well as spending time in Washington at the Department. While at ORNL, I developed the K-12 education program and ultimately was Director of the Office of Science Education where I had responsibility for all education programs serving those in kindergarten through university faculty. It was during those years that I became actively involved in evaluation as the Department became heavily involved in science education and its effectiveness. Since leaving DOE, I have joined the higher education community, teaching at the community college level, at for-profit institutions, and currently at a small HBCU in Knoxville.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: I am currently the evaluator for an NSF-ATE project at a local community college. In addition, I am frequently asked to do teacher training and project evaluation for a variety of entities. As this is an area in which I have an interest and some experience, I plan to strengthen my knowledge and skills and better prepare myself to function as both an evaluator and trainer. At the same time, the knowledge and skills I will acquire this summer will be available to monitor program development and assessment at my home institution. I also look forward to developing relationships and collaborations with other workshop participants which will provide support beyond the summer experience.
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Centennial, CO
E-mail:
Educational Background: MS in Applied Statistics, Ed.D in Mathematics Education
Current Job Title/Employer: Statistical Analyst, HIV/STD Research and Evaluation Unit, Colorado State Department of Public Health and Environment
Work Experience: My work experience includes teaching undergraduate level mathematics and statistics and analyzing statistical data using SAS and SPSS. As a graduate student, I worked as a Senior Research Associate evaluating programs designed to increase the number of minorities completing degrees in mathematics, science, and engineering for the William Penn Foundation. After graduation, I gained experience in private industry as a statistician where my primary duties involved designing statistical models for use in direct marketing applications. Next, I returned to educational program evaluation as a data analyst for the New York City Board of Education, Department of Assessment and Evaluation. Periodically, I serve as a statistical consultant on a variety of program evaluations; one of my regular clients includes the California Hispanic Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: I have primarily been involved in the quantitative aspects of program evaluation such as instrument and database design, and data analysis. However, I have some experience facilitating focus groups and conducting one-on-one interviews. My program evaluation experience has been largely in the field of education and public health. The types of evaluations have primarily included needs assessments, process monitoring, and outcome monitoring.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: I plan to continue serving in the role of statistical analyst in program evaluations. However, I hope to expand my role by adding activities in the area of evaluation and program design. Through participation in the Institute, I hope to gain knowledge that I can share with my colleagues to help build evaluation capacity and ultimately, make the data more useful to end users in improving their programs.
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Durham, NC
E-mail:
Educational Background: MS and PhD Human Development & Family Studies, BA Psychology
Current Job Title/Employer: Currently, I am a partner in a private research and evaluation firm in Durham, NC (Compass Consulting Group), which I and three other female colleagues opened one year ago.
Work Experience: For 7-1/2 years before starting our own firm, I worked as the program manager and senior evaluator in university-based evaluation centers, first in Greensboro and then in Chapel Hill, NC. I have conducted educational, social service, and community-based program evaluations for various organizations. Much of my work has been related to early childhood health and education as well as family support, K-12, professional development, charter schools, and organizational development.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: I am particularly interested in learning new and more innovative ways to conduct evaluations that examine impacts and outcomes that go beyond the ordinary survey questions of "how will you use what you learned". I'm also hoping to learn more about other evaluation models, sound evaluation designs and methods, and reporting styles.
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Blacksburg, VA
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Educational Background: PhD Neuroscience, BA Biology
Current Job Title/Employer: Outreach Director, Fralin Biotechnology Center, Virginia Tech
Work Experience: Although I am a scientist by training, I now direct the outreach program of Virginia Tech's Fralin Biotechnology Center, where I work with teachers and scientists to help high school students and the general public better understand biotechnology and its applications and implications.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: As a graduate student, I volunteered extensively with the Science and Health Education Partnership (SEP), UCSF's science education outreach program, to develop my teaching skills. My experiences with SEP, especially with K-12 students and teachers, prompted me to change my career path to science education. My current responsibilities are: coordinating efforts to encourage public understanding of advances in biological science, developing, implementing, and evaluating outreach projects, grant-writing, conducting biotechnology education courses for teachers and other professionals (businesspeople, lawyers, legislators), conducting programmatic and outcomes evaluation, and publishing science education research. As evaluation is both a professional interest and responsibility for me, I am delighted to participate in the Evaluation Institute and to develop an ongoing relationship with The Evaluation Center and the network of current and former participants.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: I have a background in science research, I have read about evaluation theory and practice, and I have developed and fostered relationships with professional evaluators. Yet, I don't have any formal training in evaluation. The Summer Institute on Evaluation is an ideal forum for me to expand my understanding of evaluation and develop skills I can apply immediately. I am looking forward to learning skills and knowledge that will help me develop a solid science education research program.
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Webster City, IA
E-mail:
Educational Background: M.S. Adult Education, doctoral student in Agricultural Education and Studies
Current Job Title/Employer: Co-founder/Consultant for The E Resources Group, Inc., and Project Coordinator for Prairie Rivers of Iowa Resource Conservation & Development, Inc.
Work Experience: I work in conservation/environmental issues with various agencies that deliver non-formal programs, mostly to adults. I also serve on the State Soil Conservation Committee and have served on other state association boards, which gives me access to diverse networks seeking to build capacity in evaluation. The topics vary from energy efficiency and construction, to prescribed fire for land management, to all manner of soil and water conservation practices, environmental education, and nature interpretation.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: Most of my coursework and experience to date has been qualitative. For work I have hired evaluators, conducted small evaluations, and am currently a team leader co-directing the development of models that can be used by future grant writers (statewide) to incorporate outcome evaluations into their programs. Conservation programs have always been evaluated to a certain extent, but increasing pressure to determine the worth and merit of program delivery and educational effectiveness, has pulled much of my evaluation work into formal and informal capacity building and creating an "evaluation attitude" within my networks.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: As a doctoral student with full-time employment outside the university, I can quickly link classroom learning to real world experiences - indeed the need to become adept with a variety of evaluation instruments is very urgent for me. I am eager to learn from Institute participants and instructors about evaluation in other fields, hear about mistakes our conservation agencies had better avoid, and discover feedback systems to provide meaningful data for people who are already too busy to deal with one more thing to do. I am fascinated with evaluation methodologies and the process of building capacity for evaluation. Immersing myself in evaluation for three weeks will be a much-needed boost in my life work.
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Coventry, CT
E-mail:
Educational Background: Ph.D. in Special Education
Current Job Title/Employer: Assistant Professor in Residence, Educational Psychology Department, University of Connecticut
Work Experience: The majority of my work experience is in teaching mathematics to students with learning disabilities or who otherwise have difficulty learning mathematics. I have taught as an adjunct instructor in the math departments at community colleges for a number of years. I have also worked on grants related to Universal Design for Instruction which focuses on making instruction at the postsecondary level accessible to all students regardless of their disability status.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: As a graduate student I was involved in researching and designing a follow-up study with graduates of the University who received services in the University Program for College Students with Learning Disabilities (UPLD). Data collected from the follow-up study provided valuable information on the effectiveness of the UPLD program and modifications that could be implemented to better serve the needs of the students. I have also developed research projects designed to identify the current skill level and learning needs of students enrolled in noncredit mathematics courses at postsecondary institutions so that more effective instructional programs can be developed.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: By participating in the Evaluation Institute my goal is to gain in-depth understanding of how to evaluate educational programs that are designed to address the needs of students with learning difficulties in mathematics. As part of the Institute my objective is to develop evaluation tools that can be used to assess the effectiveness of mathematics educational programs for students with special needs. By gaining a clearer understanding of the effectiveness of an educational program in light of its goals and those of the students possible modifications can be identified and effective change can be facilitated.
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Kailua, HI
E-mail:
Educational Background: Ph.D. in Social Psychology
Current Job Title/Employer: Associate Director, Social Science Research Institute, and Co-Director, Office for Evaluation and Needs Assessment Services, University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
Work Experience: I returned to the faculty about three years ago, after more than ten years in central administration. Upon my return, one of my first initiatives was to survey government and non-profit agencies to determine the need for evaluation and needs assessment services in the state of Hawaii. The end result was the development of a new Office for Evaluation and Needs Assessment Services, which I co-direct. I have also taught psychology and worked in a research capacity at other universities in Hawai'i, Michigan, and Ohio.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: I oversee a variety of evaluation, needs assessment, and research projects. I am currently the principal investigator on three studies: (1) the evaluation of a $6 million NIH grant to build capacity for biomedical research in Hawaii, (2) a needs assessment of one of the largest counties in Hawai'i, the County of Maui, and (3) a "report card" on the magnitude of violence and violence prevention initiatives in the state. Last year I completed an evaluation of a drug elimination program at eight public housing sites, with pass-through funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: There seems to be a need for evaluation of educational programs in our state, primarily at the pre-school and elementary grade levels. Since my area of specialization is in social psychology, I am interested in learning the fundamentals of educational evaluation, with special attention on the requirements of evaluating ethnic minorities. Some of our faculty are interested in developing a graduate certificate program in evaluation in our college. I hope to learn as much as I can from this institute in order to eventually teach graduate level courses in this area. I am also interested in sharpening my skills in research design and analysis, and grant writing.
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Chapel Hill, NC
E-mail:
Educational Background: B.A in American History/African American Studies, M.A.T in Secondary Social Sciences, doctoral student in Education: Culture, Curriculum and Change
Current Job Title/Employer: Evaluation Assistant, Evaluation, Assessment & Policy Connections (EvAP), an evaluation consulting unit in the School of Education on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Work Experience: In my current position, I am involved in several projects including an evaluation of the University Center for International Study (UCIS) regarding the effectiveness of their K-12 International Outreach Classroom Presentations Program, an evaluation of the School of Education's Masters for Experienced Teacher program, and will begin work on an evaluation of the North Carolina component of GEAR UP or Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduates, a federal discretionary grant program designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: Prior to working for EvAP, I was a research and evaluation assistant for the Research Education Support program at UNC Chapel Hill were I evaluated various components of the RES program, many of which focus on increasing minority participation in STEM fields. I have also participated on evaluation teams for the A+ Schools Program (an arts-based school reform model) and for the Comer School Development Program. By and large, the majority of my past and present work experience has been qualitative in nature and focused on programs that support students which has allowed me to pull on and strengthen my educational background and my love of working with students of all ages and the practitioners and specialist who support them.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: I was introduced to the field of evaluation through coursework and work experiences during my doctoral program. As my academic research interest include teacher education, anti-biased and anti-racist education, qualitative research methods, and the social foundations of education, I see several links between those interest and the powerful work of evaluation. It is my professional goal to find a career that will allow me to tie all of these interests together. I am hoping that attending the Evaluation Institute will not only provide me with critical information to fill the gaps in my knowledge with regards to evaluation models, designs, instruments and methodologies, but also provide me with the resources and training necessary to begin the career I seek. Moreover, I am hoping to build some enduring relationships with Institute participants that will be both personally and professionally fulfilling. One can never have too many "fellow travelers" in life and I look forward to finding some at the Institute.
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Belchertown, MA
E-mail:
Educational Background: Ed.D. Candidate, Educational Policy, Research and Administration
Current Job Title/Employer: Principal Investigator NSF STEM grant, Project Director DOE, Universal Design grant, ADA Coordinator, Springfield Technical Community College
Work Experience: For the past 15 years I have been involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of educational projects to improve access for individuals with disabilities to higher education. I currently direct several projects that are designed to improve access through the incorporation of the principles of universal design into curriculum development.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: Most of my experience has been in the area of evaluation of National Science Foundation and Department of Education projects. My experience has included writing evaluation plans and working with consultants in data collection and analysis. My doctoral work has included survey research and analysis, program evaluation methods and qualitative data analysis.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: I am currently working on three federally funded projects and am responsible for the design of evaluation plans. I am looking to the Summer Institute as a way to strengthen and build upon my existing evaluation skills. In particular I am interested in improved methods to evaluate the overall effectiveness of educational programs as well as the specific impact on individual learning. My interest is in developing evaluation programs in STEM areas that will facilitate enhanced learning for a diverse range of students. My college is involved in a number of federally funded initiatives and I anticipate that the skills I learn at the Summer Institute will be shared with my colleagues.
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Farmington, NM
E-mail:
Educational Background: MS, Mathematics Education
Current Job Title/Employer: Senior Director of Organizational Development, San Juan College
Work Experience: Most of my professional experience has been in the Mathematics classroom, primarily here at San Juan College. I specialized in Developmental Mathematics and Statistics, including experience in Distance Education. I have recently been promoted to the Senior Director position, responsible for all of our Quality initiatives, including the AQIP (Academic Quality Improvement Program) accreditation; professional development and recognition, and coordination of grants development.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: I have been the PI for several major grant proposals and evaluation projects for San Juan College, as well as a consultant/writer for the national NSF and FIPSE sponsored Earth Math Projects. My experience includes coordination and improvement of the mathematics department and program evaluation; institutional evaluation; and classroom research. My most recent responsibilities and current interests lie in the evaluation of our Baldrige-based Quality Improvement initiatives, organizational strategic planning, and evaluation of our professional development program.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: The knowledge and skills I attain at the Summer Institute will enhance our institutional efforts for continuous improvement of our processes and programs, as well as strengthen my skills and enable me to design better evaluation plans for our projects. I intend to share and utilize the lessons learned with our staff and other higher learning institutions in New Mexico, opening and broadening the opportunity to organize collaborative evaluation not currently available to us, particularly with other state institutions. I consider this experience a valuable addition to my professional experience and background, at a time when it is most appropriate to my current work.
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Omaha, NE
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Educational Background: M.S. in School Counseling, Ph.D. in Community and Human Resources, and endorsement in elementary and secondary administration
Current Job Title/Employer: Director of K - 12 Initiatives, Applied Information Management Institute
Work Experience: My previous work experience includes four years as a high school English teacher, nine years as a high school counselor, twelve years as a curriculum and staff development consultant, and three years as Director of Guidance for the Nebraska Department of Education. During my work in curriculum and instruction, I coordinated staff development initiatives for school counselors in all three domains: career, academic and personal/social for 30 school districts in Southwest Iowa. I also facilitated curriculum development, implementation and evaluation for those districts. At the Nebraska Department of Education, I chaired the revision of the state school counseling guide, and the revision of the state codes governing school counselors. At the AIM Institute, I began as a liaison with our member schools in Nebraska, coordinating services and marketing membership. During all this work, I was always asking the question - "is any of this making a difference?"
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: Much of my evaluation work has been qualitative in nature, both in data collection and analysis. My dissertation involved in-depth interviews and pattern analysis. Much of my work in Southwest Iowa with the local schools was in action research, evaluating learning climates and offering staff/curriculum development to help schools create safer, more functional educational environments.
Currently at the AIM Institute, I am working with the grant team, facilitating data collection and analysis in the writing phase, and servicing and evaluating grants with whom AIM has partnered. I work with a variety of partners in K - 12 school systems, community colleges, and various community and social service organizations. I work with potential grant partners, in needs analysis and initial data collection. When the grant is awarded, I continue to work with the organization as a liaison for service work in web development, staff development, and evaluation.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: My goal is to strengthen my skills in quantitative evaluation, to balance the qualitative background. More and more grants sources are asking for "hard" data - meaning numbers. I struggle with that, knowing how messy the real world is, but the balance between numbers and words can yield a better understanding of what is happening. I sometimes feel like an "imposter" in the evaluation world, where I know enough to be dangerous, but not enough to feel competent. This Institute and the caliber of the participants will challenge me to grow.
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Berrien Springs, MI
E-mail:
Educational Background: Ph.D. Instructional Systems Technology, Indiana University
Current Job Title/Employer: I wear two 1/2 time hats at Andrews University: (1) Assistant Professor in Teaching, Learning and Curriculum; and (2) Specialist in Instructional Design and Technology
Family: Wife: Brenda (originally from Lansing, Michigan), Father of five: Jill (19), Lorraine (17), Jayson (14), Kristina (12), and our newly adopted son, Fredy (2).
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: Before my Instructional Systems Technology doctoral program (1997-2000), my training had been scattered--Engineering, Industrial Education, and Art. While having a science and math background, my experience teaching college level digital photography afforded opportunity for significant amounts of evaluation--aesthetic and technical criticism. In my doctoral program evaluation was a major segment of the instructional design process that was experienced and arguably indoctrinated. I have also had the chance to work with NCTM (the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) on the electronic version of, what became known as, Standards 2000. More recently at Andrews University (one of the most diverse universities in the U.S. with a student body assembled from over 100 countries), I have been working with faculty and graduate students on curriculum (both program and course level) design and development. A considerable part of these are using significant portions of online delivery. My consulting has allowed me to work with Florida Hospital (often the busiest hospital in the US) in creating online leadership support and training, devising practical ways of expanding technology enabled training initiatives. These experiences, along with a small exposure to (but interest in) educational measurement and psychological assessment fueled my interest in this area.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: The international collection of both students and faculty at Andrews University (a small Seventh-day Adventist University) will give an opportunity to share this new understanding with leaders that span from world health NGO's to international institutions of higher learning. In recent years Andrews has received major funding sources in the math, technology, and science areas (such as NSF, U.S. Department of Agriculture, American Chemical Society, etc.). While we expect this trend to continue, I hope to be able to provide capacity to design and implement quality evaluation programs with future proposals. In my own research, I plan to apply these learned evaluation principles to the Seventh-day Adventist school system. Working with educational leaders from across the nation and the world I hope to contribute to a continued refining of what to me is, an already impressive private educational system.
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Oviedo, FL
E-mail:
Educational Background: Ph.D. in Instructional Technology with an emphasis in Evaluation (in progress)
Current Job Title/Employer: Director of Research, College of Education, University of Central Florida
Work Experience: Over the past 15 years I have been involved in assisting university faculty and context experts in developing, designing, and writing grant project proposals. In addition, I have provided administrative support for various programs and research projects within the community and at UCF. For eights years I worked as a consultant with school districts and other local not-for-profit organizations in developing comprehensive collaborations to support children and families in neighbor centers and through other projects. For the past four years I have worked solely with UCF in developing over 35 grant projects within the College of Education that have received over $50 million of funding from private, state and federal agencies.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: Currently, my primary role is assisting faculty in the development of new innovative programs focusing on mathematics and science, reading, and special education. I have worked with several SMET projects including the Bridging Engineering and Education in Florida (BEEF) which is a NSF funded project in collaboration with the College of Engineering. I encourage faculty to include quality evaluation in their initial project planning and design. I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology with an emphasis in evaluation. One of the major goals in my current position is to assist faculty in expanding their research activities within the College of Education. Another goal involves the continued development and expansion of activities conducted by the Program Evaluation and Educational Research (PEER) Group with multidisciplinary University projects and among the local community.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: As a Director of Research and a Ph.D. student, I believe the Institute will provide the knowledge and tools that will improve my evaluation skills that will enable me to effectively guide and implement evaluations within the College of Education, the University, and among community partnerships. I hope to discover my strengths and areas for improvement in evaluation. I anticipate that the knowledge and skills gained from the Institute will help me to enhance the design of evaluation plans for multiple projects. The training in evaluation received at the Institute will be particularly important when working with public school districts and other local not-for-profit community service providers. I am specifically interested in the evaluation of instructional systems related to STEM education.
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Atlanta, GA
E-mail:
Educational Background: MPH in International Health/Epidemiology, admitted into the WMU Interdisciplinary PhD in Evaluation program
Current Job Title/Employer: Program Analyst, Office of Evaluation and Inspections, Office of Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Work Experience: My work involves conducting national evaluations on DHHS programs.
Selected Evaluation Emphases and Experience: My current work focuses on evaluating national Medicare, Medicaid, and Bioterrorism programs. I design evaluation studies; select methodologies; and collect, analyze, and synthesize data and policy information to develop reports and recommendations for DHHS programs. Prior to my current position, I was working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where I conducted scientific research studies.
Continuing Interest in Evaluation: I want to develop expertise in conducting evaluations. Specifically, I want to improve the quality of program evaluations that I conduct and broaden my perspective in selecting evaluation approaches. I am interested in how other participants conduct evaluations in their fields and encounter barriers as they design and complete evaluations. I am interested in developing and disseminating evaluation related information as a result of this program.
