Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Hello, AEA365 community! Liz DiLuzio here, Lead Curator of the blog. This week is Individuals Week, which means we take a break from our themed weeks and spotlight the Hot Tips, Cool Tricks, Rad Resources and Lessons Learned from any evaluator interested in sharing. Would you like to contribute to future individuals weeks? Email me at AEA365@eval.org with an idea or a draft and we will make it happen.
Hello! We are Nikki Rider (Director), Rebecca Fils-Amie (Lead Evaluation Specialist), Supriya Kegley (Lead Evaluation Specialist), and Maggie Pustinger (Evaluation Specialist) at the Program Evaluation and Quality Improvement (PEQI) Center at Emory Centers for Public Health training and Technical Assistance at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
Evaluation is an essential component of public health programming as funders and organizations desire to demonstrate the impact of programs and increase transparency. Despite this, many undergraduate and master’s programs do not offer applied evaluation opportunities to introduce students to the field of evaluation and help them develop skills necessary to enter the workforce. There is an ever-growing need for schools, organizations, and programs of public health to provide students with the opportunity to apply evaluation skills and knowledge in real world settings. In efforts to fill this gap and help produce a more well-rounded evaluation workforce, we have been working on standardizing the PEQI Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) evaluation experience and aligning opportunities with AEA evaluation competencies.
Below, we outline a detailed approach that blends a step-by-step process with insights on how PEQI is implementing its successful (and in progress!) GRA program.
PEQI’s Approach: Recognized the lack of hands-on training and embedded GRAs into real-world projects so students gain applied experience before graduation.
PEQI’s Approach: Aligned the GRA program with the mission of building public health workforce capacity through experiential learning.
PEQI’s Approach: Offer flexible hours and a welcoming environment, ensuring equity and inclusion.
PEQI’s Approach: Developed a competency framework covering essential skills like data collection and analysis.
PEQI’s Approach: Pair each GRA with a dedicated supervisor and offer opportunities for mentorship and professional development.
PEQI’s Approach: Assign GRAs responsibilities like leading data collection and contributing to deliverables.
PEQI’s Approach: Include GRAs in client-facing meetings to build confidence and leadership skills.
PEQI’s Approach: Use GRA and staff feedback to keep the program aligned with workforce needs.
PEQI’s Approach: Track metrics such as career placements to demonstrate program value.
PEQI’s Approach: Document and share the journey of formalizing our GRA program.
Although we did not start this GRA program from scratch, rather we are enhancing an existing program to best support the needs of students who join us for a work study experience, the lessons learned from PEQI’s approach offer valuable insights for others aiming to build the public health evaluation workforce. Whether you’re starting from scratch or refining an existing program, hopefully these steps provide a clear pathway to success.
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