Kathryn Newcomer is the director of the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University, where she teaches graduate-level courses on public and nonprofit program evaluation and research design. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and serves on the comptroller general's Educators' Advisory Panel. She served as an elected member of the AEA Board of Directors from 2012 to 2015 and will begin service as AEA president on January 1, 2017. She routinely conducts research and training for federal and local government agencies and nonprofit organizations on performance measurement and program evaluation, and has designed and conducted evaluations for many U.S. federal agencies and dozens of nonprofit organizations.

Dr. Newcomer has published five books, including "Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation" (fourth edition, 2015) and "Transformational Leadership: Leading Change in Public and Nonprofit Agencies" (June 2008), a volume of New Directions for Public Program Evaluation, and more than 60 articles in journals including the Public Administration Review and the American Journal of Evaluation. She served as president of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) from 2006 to 2007. She has received two Fulbright awards, one for Taiwan (1993) and one for Egypt (2001-04). Dr. Newcomer also received the Elmer Staats Award for Achievements in Government Accountability, awarded by the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (2008). She has lectured on performance measurement and public program evaluation in Ukraine, Brazil, Italy, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Costa Rica, Egypt, Taiwan, Colombia, Nicaragua, and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Newcomer earned a Bachelor of Science in secondary education and a Master of Arts in political science from The University of Kansas, and a Ph.D. in political science from The University of Iowa.

In her ballot statement, Dr. Newcomer stated:

"It would be a privilege to lead our membership in strengthening AEA and the evaluation practice globally. My vision is for AEA to achieve our end goal of creating 'broad growth in the visibility and perceived value of evaluation.' By drawing upon my skills and connections within the United States federal government and the nonprofit sector, and my international experience, I am confident that I could provide leadership to promote the use of evaluation to inform learning and improvement of public programs and policies."

We welcome Kathryn Newcomer and thank all who participated in this year's election process.

The American Evaluation Association honored seven individuals at its 2015 Awards Luncheon in Chicago, Illinois. Honored this year were recipients in six categories who are involved with cutting-edge evaluation/research initiatives that have impacted citizens around the world. We will spotlight each award winner in upcoming issues. In this issue, we extend our congratulations to Kathleen Bolland.

Kathleen Bolland, Assistant Dean, School of Social Work, The University of Alabama
2015 AEA Robert Ingle Service Award (awarded posthumously)

Kathleen Bolland's contributions to AEA over the past 20 years epitomize the concept of service. Bob Ingle himself would have written a letter of support for her to receive the award created in his honor. Dr. Bolland held visible positions of service to AEA, including board treasurer and moderator of the AEA listserv, EVALTALK, and served in countless quiet ways on advisory boards and in TIGs. She was a person whom AEA leadership could call on to help out whenever a task needed to be done thoroughly and on time, and she contributed to the smoothness of more than one transition time for the organization. A team player, Dr. Bolland offered reasoned and actionable ideas that have shaped AEA. She began and served as "owner" of the association's listserv, EVALTALK, and shepherded the list until her death on February 23, 2015. Dr. Bolland helped create an environment that was civil and welcoming for AEA members and nonmembers alike and oversaw its success. As she herself put it in an AEA365 blog, "In 1995, during the first week of operation, 25 people subscribed; now there are over 3,000 subscribers." Dr. Bolland had a long career as a researcher and faculty member at The University of Alabama, where she taught in the School of Social Work.

"Kathy was the face of AEA for many years before we had professional staff. It's likely that more people had interactions with Kathy through EVALTALK, especially in the early years of AEA, than with anyone else," said Sharon Rallis. "That she was always welcoming, engaging, supportive, ethical, and responsive contributed to both AEA's growth in membership and the quality of discourse that has become the hallmark of AEA. Kathy pioneered and nurtured AEA's organizational culture of responsiveness and quality."