Please join us in welcoming and congratulating AEA's 2013 President and three new Board Members at Large - and thank you all for taking the time to participate in this year's online election. AEA's new officers will be sworn in at our annual conference in Anaheim this fall. If you know them, take a moment to welcome them aboard. And if you don't, take time out at Evaluation 2011 to attend their official swearing-in. In a subsequent issue, we'll speak with each of them more personally. They begin their three-year terms in January.

AEA President-elect-elect 

• Jody Fitzgerald (Colorado)

AEA Board Members at Large 2012-2014

• John Gargani (California)
• George Julnes (Maryland)
• Kathryn Newcomer (Washington, DC)

Calling all members! Want to have a say in the future of AEA? By now, each of you should have received an invitation by email to participate in a short survey that will help assess AEA's transition to policy-based governance, provide a forum for member input/feedback, and offer a mechanism for member engagement. The invitation was issued by AEA President Jennifer Greene, and your input is vital.

"The survey has been purposefully crafted to collect perspectives about the transition and about member satisfaction with AEA, in general," says Ellen Taylor-Powell, chair of the Task Force overseeing the evaluation. "So, whether individuals know much about the policy-based governance transition or not, this is a chance to be heard. JVA was selected from a competitive pool and has proposed a comprehensive evaluation to help AEA govern in ways that reflect member needs. Let's take this opportunity to share our perspectives and help in that process." 

Founded in 1987 and based in Denver, Colorado, JVA Consulting, LLC partners with clients across the U.S. to identify challenges, develop solutions and make sure they have a lasting effect on communities. JVA's work has been spotlighted in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Research on Social Work Practice, the Philanthropy Digest, American Indian Report, Denver Business Journal, Cause Planet, the Charity Channel, federal government evaluation reports, and newspapers and online media across the country. JVA staff routinely presents at national conferences and their capabilities include research and survey design, professional interviews, and governance and organizational leadership. JVA has undertaken work on behalf of the Association for the Education of Hispanic Theologians, the Native American Rights Fund, the Rose Community Foundation, Susan G. Komen, and more; has conducted more than 200 organizational assessments since 2002; and has guided even more organizations on governance and effective leadership methods. A portion of JVA's Executive Director Academy addresses shared leadership and effective governance practices.

JVA has designed a mixed-methods approach that will garner input from stakeholders and provide an expert review of current practices and impacts. The survey will measure member engagement with AEA (both in length of membership and through participation in AEA activities), and knowledge of the AEA governance transition, as well as specific areas of involvement either now or over the years through such avenues as a Priority Action Team, Task Force, TIG, working group, committees or engagement with a local affiliate. JVA will also determine how AEA's policy governance compares to other associations of similar-sized memberships, gauge its transparency to members and the public, and identify successful governance indicators that can be monitored over time. The evaluation is to be completed by November, with results shared with the membership thereafter.

To participate, click here. The survey takes up to 20 minutes to complete and allows you to have a vital say in the future of the association.

AEA's 6,500 members worldwide represent a range of backgrounds, specialties and interest areas. Join us as we profile a different member each month via a short Q&A. This month's profile spotlights Cheryl Oros, an independent consultant long active in the field and in the association.

Affiliation: Oros Consulting

Degrees: PhD

Years in the Evaluation Field: 35

Joined AEA: At inception

AEA Leadership Includes: Co-Chair, Research & Technology Development TIG

Why do you belong to AEA? 

"To advance the field; share knowledge and learn from others via networking, meetings, shared materials, etc.; and help AEA reach policymakers regarding best evaluation approaches."

Why do you choose to work in the field of evaluation? 

"To assist policy makers in understanding programs and making science-based decisions."

What's the most memorable or meaningful evaluation that you have been a part of - and why?

"Evaluations that allowed me to innovate, solve design/methodological problems, as well as opportunities to set evaluation policies for federal agencies and provide training to expand evaluation capacity, improve agency functioning and advance the evaluation field. 

"When brought on to direct a new evaluation/strategic planning office at an agency focused on extramural research, extension and education at the moment the PART was instituted, I created the PREP (Portfolio Review Expert Panel) R&D evaluation system using logic models, self reviews, and evaluation studies to explain and assess programs.  This material was presented to expert panels for defined, systematic review providing scoring (for OMB) and advice to management regarding program improvement.   As part of this effort, we reformed Extension grant proposals and results reporting by requiring inclusion of logic models, performance measures, evaluation plans, and updating data systems, thus making submissions easier/more useful for states as well as agency managers. 

"Another favorite evaluation was a nationwide examination of an HHS drug prevention program evaluation for HHS in which an advisory panel (including Tom Cook, David Cordray, and Abe Wandersman) assisted my team in creating a state-of-the-art design for a multi-tiered study.  These studies have been described in AEA sessions and journal articles.

"I also developed evaluation courses and trained (and am currently training) agency managers and field staff at federal agencies as well as GAO, Georgetown University, and AEA (R&D evaluation in 2010).  I chaired the group in the GAO-sponsored Federal Evaluators to develop and provide training to OMB staff during PART, which included a chart of common evaluation methods for the various types of federal programs. I was appointed to interdepartmental committees, such as the White House OSTP Science of Science Policy Committee, to develop and foster evaluation of government R&D programs.   I am currently consulting on the setup and operations of federal evaluation offices."

What advice would you give to those new to the field? 

"Innovate and expand evaluation capacity; be relevant to decision makers and address their program questions; orient evaluations to clients' needs; be useful to managers in understanding their programs and how they can better manager; network and innovate."

If you know someone who represents The Face of AEA, send recommendations to AEA's Communications Director, Gwen Newman, at gwen@eval.org. 

AEA was recognized in the August issue of Associations Now magazine for its aea365 daily alerts. Launched January 1 last year, aea365 is open to the public and its subscriber base has grown from 760 in its first six months to more than 2,200 today. Driven by member-authored entries, the blog tallied more than 280 contributors last year and that's been the secret to its success. Read the Associations Now article here. 

Go to aea365 to subscribe to receive a tip-a-day by and for evaluators  

From AEA Members Lois-ellin Datta and Eleanor Chelimsky

Today, we mourn the passing of Elmer B. Staats, former Head of the Government Accountability Office, who died on July 23rd at the age of 97. He is remembered by many for the transformation of GAO. Staats entered federal service in 1939, was appointed Comptroller General by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, and served in that capacity for 15 years. He was honored in 1980 with the Evaluation Research Society's Federal Executive Award.

"For all of us evaluators, this is a very great loss," comments AEA member and 1995 President Eleanor Chelimsky. "I worked for him between 1980 and 1981 when I began creating an evaluation unit at the GAO, saw him every week at meetings in which I described my hopes, fears or problems, and learned from him about government, strategy, tactics, networking and negotiation. He was amazingly available for advice when I needed it, and I think this is because his interest in evaluation went very deep.

"He told me more than once that he saw evaluation as the best tool available for examining the quality of public programs and policies, and the fact that evaluation, like any other analytical tool, has its limitations did not trouble him. Indeed, an important lesson I received from him was his acceptance that in a democracy, you had to work with endless compromises, balances, and trade-offs, and evaluation is a part of that. His emphasis was on dealing with and moving beyond limitations, and this is why he supported my efforts to develop new methodologies to cope with prospective congressional questions.

"When reading our reports, he focused most on that slippery, undocumented place between evaluative conclusions and their transmutation into findings and recommendations. And although he never missed a hedge or a twist in our logic, his basic concern was the likely application of the findings. He brought to every discussion an enduring curiosity, a detestation of hyperbole, a delightful and unexpected chuckle, and a truly vast knowledge of bureaucratic discontents and responses. What remains with me most, after all these years, is the realization of his uniqueness: a profound political understanding combined with an old-fashioned, touching and unbelievably reassuring integrity. We will miss him."

Adds AEA member Lois-ellin Datta: "This was a man who did not flinch while working with quite a cast of characters - Nixon, Kennedy, Carter, and Reagan, about 50 Congresses, scores of agency leaders. He brought participatory leadership, breadth of vision (international capacity building), and transformed "accounting" into "accountability" through program evaluation. Perhaps his greatest impact on our field cascaded from the creation of the Program Evaluation and Methodology Division within GAO, whose good friend he always remained. When he retired, program evaluation was in our vocabularies and accountability for excellence in government in our own visions."

AEA member Patti Phillips is editor of the ASTD Handbook of Measuring and Evaluating Training, published by the American Society for Training & Development.

From the Publisher's Site:

"A follow-on to [the American Society for Training & Development's] ASTD's best-selling ASTD Handbook for Workplace Learning Professionals, the ASTD Handbook of Measuring and Evaluating Training includes more than 20 chapters written by preeminent practitioners in the learning evaluation field. This practical, how-to handbook covers best practices of learning evaluation and includes information about using technology and evaluating e-learning. Broad subject areas are evaluation planning, data collection, data analysis, and measurement and evaluation at work."

From the Author:

"ASTD contacted me to discuss a potential book that would be different from others we had developed. They wanted a collaborative text developed by experts and practitioners of training evaluation. While in 1983, Jack Phillips wrote the first Handbook of Training Evaluation and Measurement Methods published in the U.S. (Gulf Publishing), and we have edited many case study books describing the application of training evaluation, but there was no handbook that brought all of it together from the combined perspective of experts and practitioners. So it was a great opportunity."

"Like all of our publishing projects, there were many rewarding aspects. This particular book is now the primary textbook for one of the advanced workforce analysis courses taught in The University of Southern Mississippi's PhD Human Capital Development program. But the most rewarding aspect of this project," Phillips adds, "was the interaction with the contributors. I had the opportunity to work with training evaluation's best and brightest. Contributors represent organizations such as Merck & Co., Federal Aviation Administration, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Accenture, The University of Southern Mississippi, Center for Creative Leadership, HumRRO, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. I also had the opportunity to work with leaders whose names are synonymous with training evaluation and human capital analytics: Jack Phillips, Donald Kirkpatrick, Mary Broad, Robert Brinkerhoff, Roger Kauffman, Dana Gaines Robinson, Bill Rothwell, and Jac Fitz-enz. This group of individuals set the stage for training evaluation. Their efforts paved the way and it is their work that serves as the foundation for today's progress and that of the future. Working with Rebecca Ray, Vice President and Managing Director, Human Capital, at The Conference Board was a privilege. Her contribution interviewing the evaluation experts and synthesizing their views of the training evaluation world is invaluable."

About the Author:

Patti P. Phillips, Ph.D. is President and CEO of the ROI Institute. An expert in measurement and evaluation, she helps organizations implement the ROI Methodology around the world. Phillips teaches others to implement the ROI Methodology through the ROI Certification process as a facilitator for ASTD's ROI and Measuring and Evaluating Learning Workshops and faculty for graduate-level evaluation courses. She is author and co-author of several books on measurement, evaluation, and ROI, including Beyond Learning Objectives, Show Me the Money, and The Value of Learning.

• Research Assistant at Public/Private Ventures (Philadelphia, PA, USA) 
• Senior Study Director at Westat (Rockville, MD, USA) 
• Researcher at McREL (Denver, CO, USA)   
• Evaluation Director at NC Partnership for Children (Raleigh, NC, USA)
• Research Coordinator at Ontario Tobacco Research Unit (Toronto, ON, CANADA)   
• Associate Director at University of Massachusetts Medical School, Center for Health Policy and Research (Shrewsbury, MA, USA) 
• FSG, Strategic Learning and Evaluation Center Consultant at FSG (Boston, MA, Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, USA)  
• Senior Associate - Public Health at BTW informing change (Berkeley, CA, USA)
• Education Reform Expert at ICF International (Fairfax, VA, USA) 
• Evaluation Coordinator at Public Health Law & Policy (Oakland, CA, USA)

Descriptions for each of these positions, and many others, are available in AEA's Online Career Center. According to Google analytics, the Career Center received approximately 6,900 unique page views in the past month. It is an outstanding resource for posting your resume or position, or for finding your next employer, contractor or employee. Job hunting? You can also sign up to receive notifications of new position postings via email or RSS feed.

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