Annual Conference History

AEA's Annual Conference brings together evaluators from around the country and around the world for professional sharing. Each year, the presiding AEA President or, in the case of cosponsored conferences, a program team identifies a theme for the conference plenaries and highlight strand woven throughout the event.

Conference History: AEA has held its annual conference in geographically dispersed locations in the US and with our partners at the Canadian Evaluation Society.

Upcoming Conferences:

• Evaluation 2025: November 10-16, Kansas City, MO

Past Conferences: 

• Evaluation 2024: October 21-26, Portland, OR
  2024 President: Felicia Bohanon
  Presidential Theme: Amplifying and Empowering Voices in Evaluation
   
• Evaluation 2023: October 9-14, Indianapolis, IN
  2023 President: Corrie Whitmore
  Presidential Theme: The Power of Story 
   
• Evaluation 2022: November 7-12, New Orleans, LA
  2022 President: Veronica Olazabal
  Presidential Theme: (re) shaping evaluation together 
   
• Evaluation 2021: November 8-12, Online
  2021 President: Tom Grayson
  Presidential Theme: Meeting the Moment
   
• Eval20 Reimagined: October 27 - 30, Online
  2020 President: Aimee White
  Presidential Theme: How Will You Shine Your Light?

• Evaluation 2019: November 11 - 16, Minneapolis, MN
  2019 President: Tessie Catsambas
  Presidential Theme: Paths to the Future of Evaluation: Contribution, Leadership, and Renewal

• Evaluation 2018, October 29 - November 3, Cleveland, OH
  2018 President: Leslie Goodyear
  Presidential Theme: Speaking Truth to Power

• Evaluation 2017, November 6-11, Washington, DC
  2017 President: Kathryn Newcomer
  Presidential Theme: From Learning to Action

• Evaluation 2016, October 24-29, Atlanta, GA
  2016 President: John Gargani
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation + Design

• Evaluation 2015, November 9-14, Chicago, IL
  2015 President: Stewart Donaldson
  Presidential Theme: Exemplary Evaluations in a Multicultural World: Learning from Evaluation's Successes Around the Globe

• Evaluation 2014, October 13-19, Denver, CO
  2014 President: Beverly Parsons
  Presidential Theme: Visionary Evaluation for a Sustainable, Equitable Future

• Evaluation 2013, October 14-19, Washington, DC
  2013 President: Jody Fitzpatrick 
  Presidential Theme: The State of Evaluation in the 21st Century

• Evaluation 2012, October 22-27, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  2012 President: Rodney Hopson
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation in Complex Ecologies

• Evaluation 2011, October 31-November 5, Anaheim, California
  2011 President: Jennifer Greene
  Presidential Theme: Values and Valuing

• Evaluation 2010, November 8-13, San Antonio, Texas
  2010 President: Leslie Cooksy
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation Quality

• Evaluation 2009, November 9-14, Orlando, Florida
  2009 President: Debra Rog
  Presidential Theme: Context and Evaluation

• Evaluation 2008, November 5-8, Denver, Colorado
  2008 President: William Trochim
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation Policy and Evaluation Practice

• Evaluation 2007, November 7-10, Baltimore, Maryland
  2007 President: Hallie Preskill
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation and Learning

• Evaluation 2006, November 1-4, Portland, Oregon
  2006 President: Melvin Mark
  Presidential Theme: The Consequences of Evaluation

• Evaluation 2005, October 26-29, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  Co-sponsored with the Canadian Evaluation Society
  2005 President: Sharon Rallis, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
  Conference Theme: Crossing Borders, Crossing Boundaries

• Evaluation 2004, November 3-6, Atlanta, Georgia
  2004 President: Nick Smith, Syracuse University
  Presidential Theme: Fundamental Issues

• Evaluation 2003, November 5-8, Reno, Nevada
  2003 President: Richard Krueger, University of Minnesota
  Presidential Theme: Methodology

• Evaluation 2002, November 6-9, Arlington, Virginia
  2002 President: Molly Engle, Oregon State University
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation - A Systematic Process That Reforms Systems

• Evaluation 2001, November 7-10, St Louis, Missouri
  2001 President: James Sanders, Western Michigan University
  Presidential Theme: Mainstreaming Evaluation

• Evaluation 2000, November 1-4, Honolulu, Hawaii
  2000 President: Laura Leviton, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  Presidential Theme: Evaluation Capacity Building

• Evaluation '99, November 3-6, Orlando, Florida
  1999 President: Michael Scriven, Claremont Graduate University
  Presidential Theme: The Territory Ahead

• Evaluation '98, November 4-7, Chicago, Illinois
  1998 President: Donna Mertens, Gallaudet University
  Presidential Theme: Transforming Society Through Evaluation

• Evaluation '97, November 5-8, San Diego, California
  1997 President: William Shadish, University of Memphis
  Presidential Theme: Theory and Practice: Partners in Evaluation

• Evaluation '96, November 6-9, Atlanta, Georgia
  1996 President: Leonard Bickman, Vanderbilt University
  Presidential Theme: AEA: A Decade of Progress, Looking Back and Looking Forward

• Evaluation '95: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  Co-sponsored with the Canadian Evaluation Society
  1995 President: Eleanor Chelimsky, Independent Consultant Conference
  Theme: Evaluation for a New Century: A Global Perspective

• Evaluation '94: Boston, Massachusetts
  1994 President: Karen Kirkhart, Syracuse University
  Conference Theme: Evaluation and Social Justice

• Evaluation '93: Dallas, Texas
  1993 President: David Fetterman, Stanford University
  Conference Theme: Empowerment Evaluation

• Evaluation '92: Seattle, Washington
  1992 President: David Cordray
  Conference Theme: Synthesizing Evaluation: Perspectives, Practices, and Evidence

• Evaluation '91: Chicago, Illinois
  1991 President: Lee Sechrest
  Conference Theme: New Evaluation Horizons

• Evaluation '90: Washington, District of Columbia
  1990 President: Yvonna Lincoln
  Conference Theme: Evaluation and the Formulation of Public Policy

• Evaluation '89: San Francisco, California
  1989 President: Ross F Conner
  Conference Theme: New Perspectives from International and Cross-Cultural Evaluation

• Evaluation '88: New Orleans, Louisiana
  1988 President: Michael Patton
  Conference Theme: Evaluation and Politics

• Evaluation '87: Boston, Massachusetts
  1987 President: Robert Covert
  Conference Theme: Utilization of Evaluation

• Evaluation '86: Kansas City, Missouri
  1986 President: Richard Light
  Conference Theme: What Have We Learned