Annual Conference History

AEA's Annual Conference brings together evaluators from around the country and around the world for professional sharing. Each year, the presiding AEA President, or - in the case of cosponsored conferences, a program team - identifies a theme for the conference plenaries and highlight strand woven throughout the event.

Conference History: AEA has held its annual conference in geographically dispersed locations in the US and with our partners at the Canadian Evaluation Society.

Upcoming Conferences:

• Evaluation 2023: October 9-14, Indianapolis, IN
  2023 President: Corrie Whitmore
  Presidential Theme: The Power of Story 

• Evaluation 2024: October 21-26, Portland, OR

Past Conferences: 

• Evaluation 2022: November 7-12, New Orleans, LA
  2022 President: Veronica Olazabal
  Presidential Theme: (re) shaping evaluation together 

• Evaluation 2021: November 8-12, Online
  2021 President: Tom Grayson
  Presidential Theme: Meeting the Moment

• Eval20 Reimagined: October 27 - 30, Online
  2020 President: Aimee White
  Presidential Theme: How Will You Shine Your Light?

• Evaluation 2019: November 11 - 16, Minneapolis, MN
  2019 President: Tessie Catsambas
  Presidential Theme: Paths to the Future of Evaluation: Contribution, Leadership, and Renewal

• Evaluation 2018, October 29 - November 3, Cleveland, OH
  2018 President: Leslie Goodyear
  Presidential Theme: Speaking Truth to Power

• Evaluation 2017, November 6-11, Washington, DC
  2017 President: Kathryn Newcomer
  Presidential Theme: From Learning to Action

• Evaluation 2016, October 24-29, Atlanta, GA
  2016 President: John Gargani
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation + Design

• Evaluation 2015, November 9-14, Chicago, IL
  2015 President: Stewart Donaldson
  Presidential Theme: Exemplary Evaluations in a Multicultural World: Learning from Evaluation's Successes Around the Globe

• Evaluation 2014, October 13-19, Denver, CO
  2014 President: Beverly Parsons
  Presidential Theme: Visionary Evaluation for a Sustainable, Equitable Future

• Evaluation 2013, October 14-19, Washington, DC
  2013 President: Jody Fitzpatrick 
  Presidential Theme: The State of Evaluation in the 21st Century

• Evaluation 2012, October 22-27, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  2012 President: Rodney Hopson
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation in Complex Ecologies

• Evaluation 2011, October 31-November 5, Anaheim, California
  2011 President: Jennifer Greene
  Presidential Theme: Values and Valuing

• Evaluation 2010, November 8-13, San Antonio, Texas
  2010 President: Leslie Cooksy
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation Quality

• Evaluation 2009, November 9-14, Orlando, Florida
  2009 President: Debra Rog
  Presidential Theme: Context and Evaluation

• Evaluation 2008, November 5-8, Denver, Colorado
  2008 President: William Trochim
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation Policy and Evaluation Practice

• Evaluation 2007, November 7-10, Baltimore, Maryland
  2007 President: Hallie Preskill
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation and Learning

• Evaluation 2006, November 1-4, Portland, Oregon
  2006 President: Melvin Mark
  Presidential Theme: The Consequences of Evaluation

• Evaluation 2005, October 26-29, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  Co-sponsored with the Canadian Evaluation Society
  2005 President: Sharon Rallis, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
  Conference Theme: Crossing Borders, Crossing Boundaries

• Evaluation 2004, November 3-6, Atlanta, Georgia
  2004 President: Nick Smith, Syracuse University
  Presidential Theme: Fundamental Issues

• Evaluation 2003, November 5-8, Reno, Nevada
  2003 President: Richard Krueger, University of Minnesota
  Presidential Theme: Methodology

• Evaluation 2002, November 6-9, Arlington, Virginia
  2002 President: Molly Engle, Oregon State University
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation - A Systematic Process That Reforms Systems

• Evaluation 2001, November 7-10, St Louis, Missouri
  2001 President: James Sanders, Westrn Michigan University
  Presidential Theme: Mainstreaming Evaluation

• Evaluation 2000, November 1-4, Honolulu, Hawaii
  2000 President: Laura Leviton, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation Capacity Building

• Evaluation '99, November 3-6, Orlando, Florida
  1999 President: Michael Scriven, Claremont Graduate University
  Presidential Theme: The Territory Ahead

• Evaluation '98, November 4-7, Chicago, Illinois
  1998 President: Donna Mertens, Gallaudet University
  Presidential Theme: Transforming Society Through Evaluation

• Evaluation '97, November 5-8, San Diego, California
  1997 President: William Shadish, University of Memphis
  Presidential Theme: Theory and Practice: Partners in Evaluation

• Evaluation '96, November 6-9, Atlanta, Georgia
  1996 President: Leonard Bickman, Vanderbilt University
  Presidential Theme: AEA: A Decade of Progress, Looking Back and Looking Forward

• Evaluation '95: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  Co-sponsored with the Canadian Evaluation Society
  1995 President: Eleanor Chelimsky, Independent Consultant Conference
  Theme: Evaluation for a New Century: A Global Perspective

• Evaluation '94: Boston, Massachusetts
  1994 President: Karen Kirkhart, Syracuse University
  Conference Theme: Evaluation and Social Justice

• Evaluation '93: Dallas, Texas
  1993 President: David Fetterman, Stanford University
  Conference Theme: Empowerment Evaluation

• Evaluation '92: Seattle, Washington
  1992 President: David Cordray
  Conference Theme: Synthesizing Evaluation: Perspectives, Practices, and Evidence

• Evaluation '91: Chicago, Illinois
  1991 President: Lee Sechrest
  Conference Theme: New Evaluation Horizons

• Evaluation '90: Washington, District of Columbia
  1990 President: Yvonna Lincoln
  Conference Theme: Evaluation and the Formulation of Public Policy

• Evaluation '89: San Francisco, California
  1989 President: Ross F Conner
  Conference Theme: New Perspectives from International and Cross-Cultural Evaluation

• Evaluation '88: New Orleans, Louisiana
  1988 President: Michael Patton
  Conference Theme: Evaluation and Politics

• Evaluation '87: Boston, Massachusetts
  1987 President: Robert Covert
  Conference Theme: Utilization of Evaluation

• Evaluation '86: Kansas City, Missouri
  1986 President: Richard Light
  Conference Theme: What Have We Learned