AEA Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI)

The 2020-2021 GEDI Host Site and Scholar applications are now available!

The American Evaluation Association welcomes host site and scholar applications for its Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program! The Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program provides paid internship and training opportunities during the academic year. The GEDI program works to engage and support students from groups traditionally under-represented in the field of evaluation. The goals of the GEDI Program are to:

• Expand the pool of graduate students of color and from other under-represented groups who have extended their research capacities to evaluation.
• Stimulate evaluation thinking concerning under-represented communities and culturally responsive evaluation.
• Deepen the evaluation profession’s capacity to work in racially, ethnically and culturally diverse settings.

Interns may come from a variety of disciplines including public health, education, political science, anthropology, psychology, sociology, social work, and the natural sciences. Their commonality is a strong background in research skills, an interest in extending their capacities to the field of evaluation, and a commitment to thinking deeply about culturally responsive evaluation practice.

Prospective Host Sites

Host sites provide meaningful evaluation project work and mentoring to interns. GEDI Interns are among the best and brightest graduate students in the country who are learning through the internship to transfer their strong inquiry skills to real-life situations in organizations, agencies, and firms. 

Hosting a GEDI at your organization is a unique opportunity to help build evaluation's future through fostering the professional growth of an intern from a background under-represented in the field. A number of host sites have found the GEDI experience so positive as to invite their intern to continue in a part- or full-time capacity upon completion of the internship. Learn more about serving as a GEDI Host Site.

Host Site Applications are due Friday, April 10, 2020

Prospective Host Site Webinar

Have additional questions about hosting an intern? Join GEDI Program Directors Dr. Rodney Hopson and Dr. Brandi Gilbert as they discuss the GEDI program experience from the host site perspective and answer your questions. This is an excellent opportunity to get an inside perspective on what it is like to support a scholar and expectations of a host site.

LIVE Webinar 
Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 3:00 PM ET

Past Webinar Recording
Thursday, March 5, 2020

Prospective GEDI Scholars

Building on the training content described here, interns work the equivalent of approximately two days per week at an internship site near their home institutions from approximately September 1 to July 1. The interns may work on a single evaluation project or multiple projects at the site, but all internship work is focused on building skills and confidence in real-world evaluation practices. Learn more about participating as a GEDI Scholar.

Scholar Applications are due Friday, April 17, 2020

Prospective Scholar Webinar

Program Directors 

• Dr. Rodney Hopson, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
• Dr. Brandi Gilbert, Urban Institute

GEDI Internship Information Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Host Site Information