In Memory of Eleanor Chelimsky

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our colleague, Eleanor Chelimsky, on March 6, 2022.

Eleanor Chelimsky (née Fine) died March 6, 2022 at home with her son and daughter-in-law after a long illness. She was born July 9, 1926 in New York, the youngest child of Charles and Mary Fine and younger sister of Naomi. Eleanor was an accomplished concert pianist at an early age. The New York Times complimented her debut at Town Hall on November 10, 1941 at age 15. She continued her career as a pianist playing solos with orchestras around Europe. After her marriage to Oscar Chelimsky, the couple moved to Paris right after World War II, Eleanor supported by a Fulbright Scholarship and Oscar by the GI Bill. Though they had planned a one-year stay, they remained in France for 22 years where they had two children, Thomas in 1956 and Catherine in 1960. In 1962, Eleanor took a job as a secretary at the American Embassy in Paris, eventually worked for the MITRE Corporation and then became a statistical analyst at NATO. The family moved to Brussels with NATO in 1968.

They returned to the States in 1970 when Eleanor became a research manager at the MITRE Corporation. In the last segment of her career, she was director for 14 years of the Program Evaluation and Methodology Division of the General Accountability Office, which she directed as a United States Assistant Comptroller General until her retirement in 1994. She was a pioneer of North American Evaluation and served as President of the American Evaluation Association (1995) and President of the Evaluation Research Society. In 2013, the Eastern Evaluation Research Society (EERS) launched the Eleanor Chelimsky Forum on Evaluation Theory and Practice.

During her tenure, Eleanor generated over 300 evaluations of government policies and programs for congress and developed new methods for evaluation. She conducted in-depth research in many areas including evaluation theory and practice and its relationship to public policy. To this day she would say she was most proud of the work that defeated chemical warfare in the US. She received many awards for her work including the Comptroller General’s Award in 1991 for innovative approaches to evaluating government policies and the American Eagle Award from President George H.W. Bush. She loved evaluation fiercely and continued to work in the field well into her 90s. She published a consultation piece on global warming three months prior to her death.

Eleanor spent her entire life a devoted wife to Oscar Chelimsky and loving mother to Catherine Fallick (Bruce) and Thomas Chelimsky (Gisela). She is survived by her son and daughter as well as her five grandchildren, Miriam Chelimsky (Richard), Hannah Chelimsky (Matthew), Jeremy “Ozzie” Aery Fallick (Emily), Emily Fallick, and Charlotte Fallick. She instilled a love for literature, poetry, art, history, and classic movies in her grandkids, always ensuring they knew they were empowered to achieve what they set their minds on.

In lieu of flowers, the Chelimsky family asks that donations be made to the American Evaluation Association, an organization dear to Eleanor’s heart. Donations will support an initiative to honor the legacy of Eleanor Chelimsky and her contributions to the field of evaluation.

Donations can be made here.

Policy Watch: President’s Budget Request Demonstrates Commitment to Using Evaluation for Evidence-Building

By Katie Howell, consultant to the Evaluation Policy Task Force

In late March 2022, the Biden Administration published the FY 2023 President’s Budget Request. Overall, the budget suggests the Administration’s commitment to the use of evidence and evaluation to address the Administration’s priorities, which include addressing climate change, advancing equity, and improving on the mission and service delivery by government.

The President’s Budget Request describes achieving an evidence-based government as a “mission-critical function” that demands a “whole-of-government approach.” To do so, the budget revives the Analytical Perspectives chapter on evidence, includes agency set-asides for evaluation, and outlines new initiatives agencies plan to undertake in FY 2023.

Throughout the budget, there are explicit calls for evaluation capacity-building activities. In Building and Using Evidence to Improve Government Effectiveness, the Administration makes a specific call that agencies must consider how evaluation activities intersect with the commitment to advance equity––“[i]ntegrating an explicit commitment to equity in Evaluation Policies provides another channel for institutionalizing this principle in an agency’s culture of evidence.”

Investment for implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act), including funds to support evaluation offices and cross-agency program evaluation, is highlighted in the budget documents, including at the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor. There is also increased funding directed toward longstanding evaluation offices, including the Department of Education’s Institution of Education Sciences, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and of the Office Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families at HHS.

Further, some agencies received stronger evaluation set-asides, authority where a share of total spending is allocated for evaluation activities. These evaluation set-asides received an increase in funding at the Department of Labor and the Department of Justice which plan to use up to 0.75% and 2.5%, respectively, for evaluation activities. The budget request also includes authority for the Department of Education to reserve 0.5% of funding for evaluation of Higher Education Act programs.

The Administration’s recent attention to federal evaluation extends beyond the budget request. Coinciding with the release of the budget, federal agencies published their agency-wide Learning Agendas, Annual Evaluation Plans and Evidence Capacity Assessments––required under Title I of the Evidence Act. Additionally, the White House announced its Year of Evidence for Action initiative aiming to improve the use of evidence in federal decision-making, including through supporting program evaluation. The Administration's focus on the importance of evaluation is encouraging for the evaluation community.

Board Update: Wrapping Up Our First Quarter

Hello AEA Members!

It’s hard to believe that AEA is moving into its 2^nd quarter of 2022. Here is a brief update of Board activities for the 1^st quarter.

It is to be emphasized that the AEA Board fully recognizes that all AEA members, who together populate 60 TIGs, 34 Local Affiliates and come from over 60 countries, give breath and vitality to AEA. Via several platforms, you have provided valuable insights regarding cross disciplinary needs and challenges and have addressed social justice issues with thoughtful consideration and understanding, all of which guides development of professional skills, knowledge, and the ethical practice of evaluation.

Kicking off 2022, Veronica Olazabal, AEA’s President, organized a collaborative effort in developing AEA’s Board agenda for 2022. Agenda setting was built around key areas, e.g., allotting more time to learn about AEA programs and services; distributing board responsibility to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion; providing more time to reflect and deliberate on major AEA member concerns and issues; and structuring the Board’s work around fiduciary responsibility, membership engagement, effective governance, operations, emerging trends, and team building.

Board in-person engagement for the year was set at three in-person two-day meetings: first was the January 22 in DC (hybrid, already held); second will be an in-person meeting scheduled for May in DC; and third will be a November meeting held during the AEA conference in New Orleans. In addition, three virtual two-hour meetings were scheduled: March (already held), July and September. A synopsis of January and March Board meeting activities, i.e., discussions and deliberations, are given below.

January 22^nd Hybrid Board Meeting

President-Elect Corrie Whitmore, University of Alaska Anchorage, Members-at-Large Tom Archibald, Virginia Tech, Mònica Ruiz-Casares, McGill University & Sherpa University Institute, and Katherine Tibbetts, Lili’uokalani Trust, Hawaii were welcomed as AEA’s newly elected Board members.  They had attended training sessions on policy governance and were well prepared to actively engage in and contribute to Board work.

Board Activities:

1. Felicia Bohanon, Treasurer, and Anisha Louis, Executive Director, provided the 4^th 2021 quarter financial update. This was followed by a monitoring report by Anisha Louis.
2. Anisha Louis, Guili Zhang, Tom Kelly, and Maurice Samuels provided an update regarding AEA’s AJE and NDE editors. The American Evaluation Association is seeking Editors for both the American Journal of Evaluation (AJE) and New Directions for Evaluation (NDE).
3. Board members engaged in a discussion about continuing the Clarifying AEA’s Audience Task Force. Tom Kelly and Jane Reisman addressed the associated social financial landscape and implications for AEA.
4. Anisha Louis, Cindy Clapp Wincek and Donna Podems addressed considerations of AEA’s international audience, including the International Working Group (IWG), the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE), and EvalPartners.
5. Felicia Bohanon, Tom Kelly, and Xiaoxia Newton reported on AEA’s Bylaws review process. This review process is on-going
6. A Charter for a required third year external Board evaluation was presented to the Board for approval by Corrie Whitmore.

March 17^th Virtual Meeting – Board Activities

1. Anisha Louis presented on AEA’s FY23 budget development in preparation for the Board’s review and vote of approval which is to occur during the May Board meeting. A snapshot of the 2021 virtual conference attendance, registration income and proposed activity shifts for the 2022 conference were discussed. Budget timelines and next steps were determined.
2. Zachary Grays, Operations Manager, and Veronica Olazabal provided a brief update on the Clarifying our Audience Task Force, which now will include collaboration with the Graduate Education Diversity Internship scholars.
3. AEA’s Ends Goals policies are required to be reviewed annually. A team comprised of Kathy Tibbetts (Chair), Maurice Samuels, Mónica Ruiz-Casares and Tom Grayson volunteered to develop a process for reviewing the Ends Goals and set timelines for Board review and approval.
4. Libby Smith and Karen Jackson reported on their work reviewing documents relating to AEA’s Conflict Resolution and Code of Conduct for Board members. It was suggested that AEA’s Conflict Resolution should move from a reprimand orientation toward more of a “transformative justice” process. The review of the Code of Conduct document is intended to determine Whether anything is missing and, if so, what should be added. Draft documents of proposed revisions had been presented to Board members prior to the meeting via the Board’s forum in order for members to prepare for Board discussion and deliberation. Second drafts of both documents are being prepared for further discussion by the Board.
5. Board members were reminded to complete Board meeting self-evaluations to facilitate improved Board effectiveness in future meetings.

Stay Connected: Join AEA Connect for All Your TIG Communications!

AEA Topical Interest Groups are the heart and soul of AEA with each TIG defined around a special topic or interest and creates a forum whereby the knowledge, experience, and skills of each member can become a resource that the entire community can leverage. Joining a TIG is an exclusive benefit to AEA membership and is your ticket to a community of experts who share similar backgrounds and work settings.

AEA will be phasing out TIG member communications via email by end of 2022 and transitioning fully to TIG communications shared via AEA Connect, AEA’s community platform that allows you to easily connect with your fellow TIG members.  Start using the TIG online community to stay connected to other TIG members and access TIG exclusive information.

 To manage your forum email preferences and frequency login here, navigate to your profile (top right corner of the screen), and manage your community notifications under ‘My Account’.

Not a member of a TIG? Simply log in and join the TIGs that best suit your interests.

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Register Now: 2022 Summer Evaluation Institute

Registration is open for the 2022 Summer Evaluation Institute, taking place June 6–8 in Atlanta. We’re so excited to see you in-person!

Designed with detailed classroom learning in mind, the Summer Evaluation Institute allows you to take a deep dive into workshop topics. In addition, this event creates opportunities to network with fellow evaluators and speakers.

Visit the AEA website to view all available workshops. Workshops fill up quickly, so we recommend you register early to secure your spot. Register before May 5 to save $45.

Register Now