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AEA AWARDS
HONOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELD OF EVALUATION PRESS RELEASE Awards Ceremony to be held Friday, Nov. 13, in Orlando at Evaluation 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE: NOV. 3, 2009 Firsthand experience. Scientific data. Advocacy for human rights and social justice. Professional empowerment. What do they all share in common? The American Evaluation Association will formally recognize five individuals whose work has proven pivotal to the field - and improved society - in an awards ceremony scheduled to coincide with its annual conference this year in Orlando. The awards will honor professionals whose work examined the impact of abstinence-only pregnancy prevention programs – and resulted in policy and funding changes at the federal level; whose persistence has improved transportation safety; and whose passions for the field have instilled a professional responsibility to better represent those too often overlooked, misrepresented, or sometimes ill-equipped. AEA’s awards will be presented at Evaluation 2009, to be held November 11-14 in Orlando, Florida. The awards luncheon will be held Friday. Join us as we celebrate this year’s award winners: Michael Coplen, a senior program manager with the United States Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), will be honored with AEA’s Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Government Award. Coplen started his career with the railroad industry some 30 years ago first as a brakeman and then as a locomotive engineer. He saw firsthand the hazards that come with the job and watched death claim co-workers in crashes that hit too close to home. He has dedicated the last 20 years to serving as a bridge for change. Through his efforts as an internal evaluator embracing statistical analysis, safety communication, behavioral analysis, and utilization-focused evaluation, his pilot projects in the rail industry have seen significant reductions in injuries, derailments, locomotive engineer de-certifications, as well as improvements in rules violations and personal safety awareness. Coplen’s persistent efforts with his pilot demonstration projects were an essential part of the development of FRA’s Risk Reduction Program. “I am deeply honored and humbled by this award, the most meaningful of my career,” says Coplen. “It highlights how individuals in federal government – with dedication, perseverance, and a utilization-focused evaluation approach – can make a real difference.” Christopher Trenholm and Barbara Devaney - representing Mathematica Policy Research– will be honored with AEA’s Outstanding Evaluation Award. Mathematica was tapped to spearhead a congressionally-mandated study of abstinence-only education programs intended to reduce teen pregnancies as well as sexually transmitted diseases. The comprehensive nine-year study - undertaken within a politically contentious arena - was noted for its rigor, balance, and impact. The study involved a multitude of stakeholders with varying views and interests, incorporated three rounds of follow up as much as six years after the program, had an 80 percent response rate over time, and ensured strict confidentiality of approximately 2000 teenage participants. The study has been widely cited in news articles and opinion pieces in the Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, BBC and ABC News. Newsweek’s Sharon Begley in an article entitled Just Say No to Bad Science pointed to the evaluation as a model of good research in a field where it had been sorely lacking. “We are proud to be the recipients of AEA’s Outstanding Evaluation Award and would like to thank the organization for this honor,” says the Mathematica team. “The study illustrates how high quality research can dramatically redefine debate and decision-making on controversial, critically important policy issues. We would also like to acknowledge the teamwork of colleagues and partners that made this recognition possible.” Donna M. Mertens will be presented with AEA’s Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award. Currently a professor at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC and author of Transformative Research and Evaluation (Guilford Press, 2009), Mertens posits that the field can transform society through evaluation work that shares – or brings - the voices of those pushed to societal margins into the world of research. This applies to those discriminated and oppressed due to factors including but not limited to race/ethnicity, disability, immigrant status, political conflicts, sexual orientation, poverty, religion, gender or age, as well as indigenous peoples by critically examining power structures that perpetuate social inequities. “Their voices, shared with scholars who work as their partners to support the increase of social justice and human rights, are reflected in this shift to transformative beliefs to guide researchers and evaluators.” Donna, a prolific writer/author, served as AEA president in 1998 and helped found AEA’s Diversity Initiative. She has made lifelong contributions to evaluation theory through teaching, presenting and practice. She currently teaches research methods and program evaluation to graduate-level deaf and hearing students in multiple programs including education, administration, psychology, social work, audiology, and international development and is editor of the Journal of Mixed Methods Research. “The transformative approach to evaluation makes explicit the use of evaluation for the purpose of furthering social justice. This focus in our theory and practice is consistent with the ethical codes that guide our profession. I am thrilled to be honored in this way and humbled to think of my small part in contributing to this critical aspect of theory in evaluation.” Molly Engle will be presented with AEA’s Robert Ingle Service Award. Currently an associate professor at Oregon State University, Molly has long been the voice and advocate for those performing evaluations and, through her work, helped make evaluation training a higher priority with heightened importance. A prolific writer, she spent much of her career in clinical and academic medicine and understands first-hand the need for rigorous research as well as monitoring and evaluation. Molly has more than 25 years of evaluation experience focusing on community-based evaluations, is a charter member of AEA and was instrumental in the formation of its Health Evaluation Topical Interest Group. Her service to AEA includes serving as a board member from 1992-1994, Associate Editor of Evaluation Practice from 1993-1995 and as President from 2001–2003. “Being recognized by AEA for my work for and with the organization is so validating. I am humbled, grateful, and delighted to be receiving the Ingle Award. AEA has approximately 5500 members representing all 50 states in the U.S. as well as more than 60 countries. Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. AEA’s 2009 awards recipients represent a broad range of experience and expertise but share a common goal of enhancing evaluation efforts, as well as raising public awareness within the field and in the global community, as well as providing the needs tools and approaches to evaluation. All have been prolific and influential. Photographs are available of all award winners. Please call contact number above. To learn more about the AEA Awards Program go to http://www.eval.org/aboutus/awards.asp |