Congratulations to the 2026 AEA Awards recipients for their achievements, dedication, and contributions to the field of evaluation!
Stewart I. Donaldson, Ph.D., is Distinguished University Professor at Claremont Graduate University and an internationally recognized leader in evaluation science whose scholarship has helped shape the science and practice of evaluation for more than three decades. A leading architect of modern theory-driven evaluation science and a major contributor to Research on Evaluation (RoE), Donaldson has advanced understanding of how evaluation itself can be systematically studied to strengthen its rigor, credibility, usefulness, equity, and societal impact. His scholarly record includes numerous widely cited peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and evaluation reports, 25 books, as well as publishing 16 evaluation books as Series Editor of the Evaluation and Society Book Series, helping to establish the conception of evaluation as a cumulative, evidence-building transdiscipline. His extensive empirical and conceptual work spans Research on Evaluation, theory-driven evaluation, evaluation theory and practice, evaluator competencies and education, evaluative thinking, evaluation and evaluator anxiety, culturally responsive and equity-focused evaluation, evaluation capacity building, systems evaluation, and emerging applications of artificial intelligence in evaluation science.
Donaldson’s impact extends far beyond his own scholarship to the development of the evaluation profession itself. A former President of the American Evaluation Association and Associate Editor of the American Journal of Evaluation, longtime leader of the Claremont Evaluation Center and The Evaluators’ Institute, and former Director of AEA’s Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program, he has helped build and sustain the intellectual and institutional infrastructure through which evaluation scholarship and practice flourish. He has supervised more than 125 doctoral dissertations and more than 200 master’s theses and applied research and evaluation projects, while mentoring scholars and practitioners from more than 50 countries and helping train thousands of evaluators worldwide. His career is distinguished by an uncommon integration of scientific rigor, consequential scholarship, extraordinary mentorship, institution-building, and an enduring commitment to using evaluation to advance human and societal betterment. In recognition of his sustained and transformative contributions to the scientific study, advancement, and strengthening of evaluation itself, Donaldson is the recipient of the American Evaluation Association’s 2026 Research on Evaluation Award.
Mama Dr. Geri Lynn Peak (she/they) brings a liberatory lens to evaluation, applied research, facilitation and coaching through Two Gems Consulting Services. She strengthens programs and social innovation by helping communities dismantle dominant system harms, build collective power, drive culturally resonant insights and facilitate individual and collective transformation for the betterment of all. Her Insight Facilitation approaches promote true understanding: identifying meaningful questions which, when answered provide a mirror to reflect where we are, a lens through which to discern our collective reality or a beacon that illuminates the path forward, however rocky. She leverages the Virtues Project™ as a restorative meaning-making support and uses deep listening and reflection skills to encourage clients to transform themselves simultaneously with systems. As a “Spiritual Demographer,” she applies universal and spiritual principles to her work to uplift truth and reject limiting narratives.
She has practiced evaluation for 40 years, promoted healing from racialized harm for over 50 years, loved crafting for 60+ years and likely began dancing in the womb. She supports centering the Africana journey as a means for social advancement and fosters self-determination initiatives of racialized and marginalized communities locally, nationally and internationally. An official Spiritual Warrior, she is learning to love all and other no one as a radical act of love in alignment with Bahá'í teachings,
A fiber-artist, jewelry designer, poet, dancer, drummer and avid organic vegetable gardener, this native of Los Angeles resides in Baltimore, Maryland with her delightful husband, grown twin daughters, the Reading List (10 cats named after Black authors) , many inscrutable computing devices, one loom, two functional spinning wheels, a gaggle of drop spindles and diminishing clutter.
Dr. Debra J. Rog, the cofounder and CEO of Evaluation Thought Partners, LLC, is an internationally recognized evaluation leader with more than 40 years of experience in evaluating interventions in a broad range of areas, with a concentration in homelessness and housing. She has conducted over 150 evaluations for federal, state, and local governments and foundations, typically serving as principal investigator or project director. Her evaluations have included large-scale, longitudinal, complex multi-site studies as well as smaller, shorter-term, quick responses efforts. Her methodological expertise is wide-ranging, spanning evaluability assessment, mixed methods studies, experimental designs, and quasi-experimental designs including comparison groups studies and propensity score analysis, outcome harvesting, contribution analysis, social network analysis, regression discontinuity designs, and single case designs. A hallmark of Dr. Rog’s evaluations is working to ensure that they are guided by strong theories of change and that questions and outcomes reflect multiple stakeholder perspectives, including the perspective of individuals with lived expertise. Several of her evaluations have included people impacted by the interventions on the evaluation team. Dr. Rog has edited numerous handbooks and textbooks in evaluation and research methods and has authored over 70 articles and chapters. She was the 2009 president of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and an AEA charter member. Key past positions have included Vice President of Social and Economic Policy Research at Westat and director of the Washington Office for Vanderbilt University’s Center for Evaluation Improvement. She currently serves as the associate director for faculty of Claremont University’s Evaluators’ Institute, a Nonresident Fellow of the Urban Institute, and a faculty affiliate with Evaluation Studies in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development.
Nathan (Nate) Varnell (he/him) is an early career evaluator and public policy professional working at the intersection of evaluation practice, public data, and federal evidence policy. As a Policy and Research Analyst at the Data Foundation's Center for Evidence Capacity, Nate analyzes federal evaluation policy and monitors how changes in the evidence ecosystem affect professional evaluators and their practice. His work has focused on developing new approaches for evidence-based policymaking, including methods for cross-sector learning agenda design and digital knowledge-sharing tools such as the “Evidence Act Hub.” As consultant to AEA's Evaluation Policy Task Force (EPTF), Nate authored the 2026 update to the Roadmap for a More Effective Government, the AEA’s foundational framework for what sound, trustworthy evaluation looks like in government. In this role, he advances the field’s awareness of current issues through the bimonthly Policy Watch column, and leads events supporting AEA member engagement in the policy process. For three years, Nate has engaged the DC-area evaluation community by serving on the organizing committee for the DC Emerging Evaluators Exchange (DCE3), an annual networking and professional development event, and in 2026 supported the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment’s (CREA) DC convening. He is also program co-chair for AEA's Graduate Student and New Evaluators (GSNE) Topical Interest Group, which supports graduate students and early-career evaluators entering the field. He holds a Master of Public Administration from George Washington University.