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PRESENTER INDEX
WEDNESDAY
1:30 - 3:30
3:15 - 4:30
4:45 - 6:00
THURSDAY
8:00 - 9:30
9:45 - 11:15
12:30 - 2:00
2:15 - 3:45
4:00 - 5:00
5:15 - 6:45
6:45 - 8:00
FRIDAY
8:00 - 9:30
9:45 - 11:15
12:00 - 1:30
1:45 - 3:15
3:30 - 5:00
5:15 - 6:45
SATURDAY
8:00 - 9:00
9:15 - 10:45
11:00 - 12:30
12:45 - 2:15
PLENARIES
John Stanfield
Carol J. Gill
Plenary Panel
SPECIAL EVENTS
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Welcome to Chicago and the American Evaluation Association's 1998 annual meeting! Our
theme this year, "Transforming Society through Evaluation" was designed to
encourage the evaluation community to struggle with difficult issues related to the
intersection of evaluation work and social change. This theme builds on those explored in
previous years, asking evaluators to examine how they can address such issues as
utilization, politics, and social justice (previous years' themes) to ensure
representation of perspectives of all those who should be involved in the evaluation,
especially those groups who have been traditionally marginalized in our society based on
gender, race/ethnicity, disability, or other characteristics. Sessions offer different
perspectives on ways that evaluators can strengthen their practice and theories to achieve
the goal of transforming society, and the dangers of casting evaluation as a
transformative agent. The theme of the conference will be carried through several venues
at this year's meeting: the presidential address, the plenary sessions, the presidential
strand of sessions submitted by our Topical Interest Groups, and in other individual
sessions. In the presidential address, I will explore strategies learned from
Transformative theorists that add to the evaluator's repertory to improve the
inclusiveness of our evaluation work, and provide guidance in the design of evaluations to
encourage transformative action in the pursuit of social justice.
The first two plenaries are designed to bring a deepening of thought on issues related
to the conference theme. John Stanfield, Avalon Professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta,
will present the first plenary session on Wednesday evening just before the social hour.
His talk, entitled "Social action research as vehicles of empowered social change in
multiethnic and ethnically different communities," will explore ways to develop more
effective measures of the utilization of social science research to empower people,
especially poor people. He will consider the power and authority relations of universities
and government agencies to communities, and researchers to targeted populations.
Discussants following his presentation include Michael Quinn Patton and Ernest House who
have been asked to comment on the implications of Dr. Stanfield's talk for evaluators.
The second plenary session is scheduled for Thursday evening just before the social
hour. Carol Gill, a clinical and research psychologist on the faculty at the University of
Illinois at Chicago in the Department of Disability and Human Development and Director of
the Chicago Center for Disability Research, will present "Invisible ubiquity: The
surprising relevance of disability issues in evaluation." In her plenary address, she
will use the cultural context of the disability community to explore themes with broad
relevance for evaluators, such as sources of error in program evaluation that arise from
"insider" vs. "outsider" status, the tension between advocacy and
objectivity, challenges in achieving valid representation of marginalized groups, and
issues surrounding inclusion and power. Barbara Lee and Michael Scriven will serve as
discussants for this plenary, and they have also been asked to address the broader
implications of Dr. Gill's talk for the evaluation community.
The third plenary is scheduled for Friday evening just before the social hour and
represents a new initiative for AEA in the international arena. Entitled "Presidents'
panel on creating a world-wide evaluation community," this session will consist of a
panel of national evaluation organization presidents convened to discuss the issues
associated with creating a better understanding of evaluation world-wide, and exploring
ways to improve communications among evaluators in various countries. This panel is viewed
as a kick-off to an on-going effort to create an international community of evaluators.
The social hour following this session will serve as a venue to honor the international
presidents. Information about the various evaluation organizations from around the world
will be available near the exhibit area throughout the conference.
The 1998 AEA conference is the result of many people who have volunteered their time to
make it possible. I wish to thank: Jean King (Conference Chair), John McLaughlin
(Associate Conference Chair), Robin Miller (Local Arrangements Chair), Anna Marie Madison
and Valerie Caracelli (Program Co-Chairs), and those who helped organize the plenary
sessions and presidential strands, including the TIG leaders, Ellen Konrad, Edith Thomas,
Rodney Hopson, Thomas Grayson, and Craig Russon.
Donna M. Mertens
President, American Evaluation Association
OFFICERS
- President Donna Mertens
- Past-president Will R. Shadish, Jr.
- President-elect Michael Scriven
- Secretary/Treasurer Deborah Bonnet
BOARD MEMBERS
- Debra Rog
- Midge Smith
- Darlene Russ-Eft
- Bill Trochim
- Sandra Mathison
- Jody Fitzpatrick
ANNUAL MEETING
- Chair Jean A. King
- Associate Chair John McLaughlin
- Local Arrangements Robin Miller
- Program Co-chair Anna Madison
- Program Co-chair Valerie Caracelli
EDITORS
American Journal of Evaluation
Blaine Worthen
New Directions in Evaluation
Gary Henry & Jennifer Greene
TIG COORDINATOR
Ellen Konrad
DIVERSITY COORDINATOR
Edith Thomas
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