Indigenous Peoples in Evaluation TIG Week: Resisting Western “Professionalism” as a Barrier to Relationship-Building: Bringing Yourself to the Work as a Non-Indigenous Evaluator in Indigenous Spaces by Corrie Whitmore

Date: Saturday, October 18, 2025

I’m Corrie Whitmore. I work in the Division of Population Health Sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage and do evaluation around Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder prevention programs and as an external evaluator for Cook Inlet Tribal Council substance abuse prevention and treatment programs.

My own family background is that of settlers.  My grandparents were teachers who brought our family north to Alaska, driving a station wagon with five kids up the Alcan Highway when Alaska was still a United States territory. I’ve lived in Anchorage, on unceded Dena’ina Athabascan land, since finishing my PhD in 2009. I’ve been working in tribal evaluation spaces – on and off – for the last 15 years.

As graduate students and early career evaluators, many of us were given feedback on how to “improve our professionalism,” using a standard for professionalism heavily defined by white supremacy culture. The guidance around professionalism I received in my Ph.D. program prioritized brandishing our credentials and expertise, dressing in more-formal ways, and limiting discussion of my personal background, hopes, and values. While this advice may benefit those working in other contexts, it didn’t provide a useful foundation for my work with Indigenous communities.

Lessons Learned

In my experience as a white settler evaluator working in tribally owned and operated spaces, those constructed layers of professional trappings, with their echoes around power and privilege, created barriers to relationship-building, rather than improving my credibility. Before I could gain the trust of the people I was working with and make way for the work, I had to overcome my socialization to present myself as a “Ph.D.-in-a-suit-jacket” and show up as a human being entering humbly into a robust network of existing relationships.

It took me a while to get it right and learn to show up as a person for my work in Indigenous communities where relationality is key. It was less about changing my clothes than changing my attitude: people didn’t want to know about my statistical skills, they wanted to know why I cared about our shared community and how I was going to show up to the work.

Hot Tips

• Don’t hide your humanity behind your credentials – share why you care about the work. For example, I work for a tribal organization in Anchorage doing family wellness work and I’m a parent raising kids here: I’m invested in the community’s well-being too.
• Dress for your day.  It’s critical to show that you understand the work you’re doing and the place you’re doing it.  If you’re going into a community setting, aim to dress in a similar way to program staff – they’re experts on what works in their context. A business suit is likely overkill (except perhaps meetings with Boards or Funders) and fancy shoes may leave you poorly equipped for a walk on uneven ground to see a program site.

Use the power of story. When introducing yourself, consider offering some of your history, sharing why you think evaluation matters, speaking to how the program you’re there for is close to your heart, acknowledging the Indigenous land you’re on, or offering other story elements that will help connect to your audience.

The American Evaluation Association is hosting Indigenous Peoples in Evaluation (IPE) TIG week. All posts this week are contributed by members of the IPE Topical Interest Group. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.