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AEA THOUGHT LEADER DISCUSSION SERIES Conceived of by 2009 AEA President Debra Rog, the Thought Leader Discussion Series connects thought leaders in our field with AEA members, new and old alike. It is one of many ways we strive to build bridges among members and foster a sense of community. Each month, we host an asynchronous (not in real time) online exchange over the course of a week using AEA’s discussion forums. During each exchange, an established evaluator or theorist contributes daily to an online dialogue around issues of importance to the field and to our professional practice. As a participant, it is up to you whether to sit back and watch the exchange or become an active contributor, asking questions of the speaker and your participant colleagues or providing insights based on your own background and experiences. How to Participate and Frequently Asked Questions
Upcoming Thought Leader Discussions
March's thought leader, Rodney Hopson, has served
on the AEA Board of Directors and served as the founding chair of
the Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program. He has helped
the association and the field to explore issues related to i)
research on evaluation, especially in a recent National Science
Foundation study on logic model use (with Rosalie Torres), ii) study
and application of program evaluation standards for the third
edition of Program Evaluation Standards (with Don Yarbrough,
Lyn Shula, and Flora Caruthers), and iii) understanding the role of
culture and context within evaluation and related disciplines.
Hopson is the Hillman Distinguished Professor in Sociolinguistics,
Ethnography, and Evaluation, Department of Educational Foundations
and Leadership in the School of Education, and faculty member in the
Center for Interpretive and Qualitative Research, Duquesne
University.
Michael Morris is Professor of Psychology at the
University of New Haven, where he directs the Master's Program in
Community Psychology and does research on ethical conflicts in
program evaluation. He served as the first editor of the Ethical
Challenges section of the American Journal of Evaluation, and his
research has appeared in Evaluation Review, Evaluation and Program
Planning, and the American Journal of Community Psychology, among
others. His most recent study focuses on the pressures applied to
evaluators to misrepresent findings. Michael is a faculty member at
The Evaluators’ Institute (http://tei.gwu.edu/about.htm),
and his books include Evaluation Ethics for Best Practice
(Guilford Press, 2008), Poverty and Public Policy, and
Myths about the Powerless. He also consults part-time with a
variety of human-service, non-profit, and public-sector
organizations; his consulting specialties are organizational
development and the enhancement of collaborative relationships
between organizations. His hobby is writing and performing humor
(see his blog grin
for a sampling) and his proudest accomplishment came in 2008, when
he was a finalist in the New Yorker magazine cartoon caption
contest. He did not win.
Hallie Preskill
served as the AEA President during 2007 when we came together to
discuss "Evaluation and Learning" at the annual conference in
Baltimore. She has completed two terms on the AEA Board of
Directors, served as the Editor of the American Journal of
Evaluation's
Teaching of Evaluation Column, and led the association's
Professional Development Committee. While on the faculty at
Claremont Graduate University. the University of New Mexico, and the
University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), she taught graduate level
courses on program evaluation, organizational learning, consulting,
training design and delivery, and appreciative inquiry. A prolific
writer, Hallie has authored or co-authored numerous journal articles
and texts, including Building Evaluation Capacity: 72
Activities for Teaching and Training
(with Darlene Russ-Eft), Reframing Evaluation Through
Appreciative Inquiry (with Tessie Catsambas),
Evaluative Inquiry for Learning in Organizations
(with Rosalie T. Torres), and Evaluation Strategies for
Communicating and Reporting (with Rosalie T. Torres and Mary Piontek). She
was the recipient of the 2002 Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Practice Award,
and the 2004 University of Illinois Distinguished Alumni Award.
Today, Hallie leads a team of consultants at
FSG Social Impact Advisors,
providing evaluation expertise over a wide range of topic areas in a
variety of sectors.
June’s thought leader, Melvin Mark – Mel to his
friends and colleagues – has served as AEA’s President, edited the
American Journal of Evaluation, completed two terms on the
AEA Board of Directors, and currently is an active contributor to
AEA’s Evaluation Policy Task Force. Mel’s interests range widely to
embrace the theory, methodology, practice and profession of program
and policy evaluation. The books on which Mel has served as
co-author or co-editor attest to the breadth and depth of his
knowledge and expertise, including, most recently: Evaluation: An
Integrated Framework for Understanding, Guiding, and Improving
Policies and Programs (with Gary Henry and George Julnes),
The SAGE Handbook of Evaluation (with Ian Shaw and Jennifer
Greene), Evaluation in Action: Interviews with Expert Evaluators
(with Jody Fitzpatrick and Tina Christie), and What Counts
as Credible Evidence in Applied Research and Evaluation Practice?
(with Stewart Donaldson and Tina Christie). Mel is Professor and
Head of Psychology at Penn State University. Among other things, Mel
reports thinking these days about pathways to evaluation influence,
research on evaluation, and getting more effective programs to
evaluate. Past Thought Leader Discussions
Ricardo
Millett
E Jane Davidson  Week of January 17-23, 2010
Want to chat with the presenter of the AEA eLibrary’s
most viewed Evaluation 2009 presentation materials: “Improving
evaluation questions and answers: Getting actionable answers for
real-world decision makers”? Hailing from Aotearoa/New Zealand
and with a doctorate from Claremont Graduate University, E Jane
Davidson runs her own evaluation consulting firm, serving central
government and other clients across multiple sectors. Her work
includes evaluation capacity building, training and development,
strategic evaluation support, as well as independent evaluations.
Jane is a winner of AEA's Marcia Guttentag Promising New Evaluator
Award, and co-editor of the Journal of Multidisciplinary
Evaluation. She is author of
Evaluation Methodology Basics: The
Nuts and Bolts of Sound Evaluation from SAGE, which was
recommended by AEA President Debra Rog in her presidential address
and is widely used internationally by both practitioners and
graduate students. Join Jane for a week of discussion that promises
to be at once thought-provoking and practical. Debra Rog will host AEA founding member Jody Fitzpatrick, noted author and award-winning faculty member at the University of Colorado, Denver (UC-Denver). Prior to joining the UC-Denver School of Public Affairs, Jody conducted evaluations in Appalachia and in New York state and was on the faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. While at UC-Denver, Jody has been recognized with awards for outstanding teaching and research. Jody is lead co-author, with James Sanders and Blaine Worthen, of one of the most widely used texts in the field, Program evaluation: Alternative approaches and practical guidelines. In 2008, working with Christina Christie and Melvin Mark, she co-authored Evaluation in action: Interviews with expert evaluators. Marv Alkin heralded this as “a “must” read for those who want to know how evaluations really take place.” Three of the evaluators interviewed for this book will join Jody in a plenary she will chair at our November conference. In addition, as the 2009 Presidential Strand co-chair, Jody will be chairing two additional Strand sessions focusing on this year’s conference theme of Context and Evaluation.  Michael
Quinn PattonWeek of September 20-26, 2009 Join our inaugural discussion with one of our eminent authors and practitioners, Michael Quinn Patton. Michael is the author of five major books in the field of evaluation, including Utilization-focused Evaluation and an upcoming publication on Developmental Evaluation about which he’ll share teasing tidbits during the exchange. He is a former President of AEA and recipient of both the Alva and Gunner Myrdal Award for Outstanding Contributions to Useful and Practical Evaluation from the Evaluation Research Society and the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award for Lifelong Contributions to Evaluation Theory from the American Evaluation Association. |
Michael
Morris
Hallie
Preskill
Melvin
Mark
