Monday, July 31, 2017
Change Is Good
From Denise Roosendaal, AEA Executive Director
President Newcomer announced in her June column that the Executive Director position is undergoing a shift. Per the Board’s recent approval, the Executive Director role will be filled by an individual who will be solely dedicated to AEA. Currently, my executive director duties are split between two organizations. Beginning January 2018, I will step into an oversight role within the current management structure in order to ensure a smooth transition.
This change is being planned, carefully and thoughtfully, to avoid any disruption in services but also to maximize this long lead time to conduct a thorough search and ensure a smooth transition period. Leslie Goodyear, AEA’s President-Elect, is leading the search process with the resources offered by the management company. A Job Specifications Committee, comprised of 15 AEA members who represent the diversity of AEA, has met to supplement the standard Executive Director job description. This group will inform the specifications so that they are tailored to AEA’s culture and values. You can still have input into the Job Specifications work by emailing your thoughts about experience and qualities desired of the new Executive Director to aeaedsearch@eval.org. A Search Committee comprised of five AEA members (including three members of the Executive Committee) is being established to interview the final candidates brought forward by an external search firm.
The organization has grown in the breadth and depth of programs and products it offers. I have found the development of these offerings to be personally educational and gratifying. The compelling Strategic Plan holds much promise for the organization and its members and certainly requires the full attention of the Executive Director role to make sure it is implemented quickly and efficiently.
Serving as your Executive Direct for the past four years has been a highlight for me, professionally and personally. I have learned so much from the members and the leadership. This organization is comprised of talented and passionate members, one of the organization’s greatest assets.
The AEA Management Team is another terrific asset for AEA. Specifically, I would call out the Membership and Operations team: Zachary Grays, Membership Coordinator; Natalie DeHart, Programs Coordinator; Milos Popovic, Customer Service Associate. These individuals will remain on the AEA Team and continue offering quality programs and the highest level of customer service to AEA members. This team is talented and deeply passionate about serving AEA members. Their commitment to AEA’s goals and membership is inspiring.
Overall, this change is good for AEA, and I am personally thrilled to see AEA evolve while continuing to retain its unique culture and deeply held values. I grateful for the opportunity to serve AEA and will treasure the many relationships we’ve built together. I support this change and look forward to contributing to the success of the transition.
Call for Nominations: Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Evaluation
From Robin L. Miller, Chair of the AEA Publications Portfolio Task Force
The American Journal of Evaluation is a leading resource for scholarship on evaluation theory, methods, and practice. The editor-in-chief is responsible for the journal’s direction and mission, including soliciting articles, overseeing the peer-review process, making editorial decisions, and editing submissions in a timely manner. The editor-in-chief will appoint and effectively manage a diverse editorial board, team of editorial assistants, and editorial staff. She or he will collaborate with the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and the journal’s publisher to maintain the journal’s longstanding excellence and increase its visibility, readership, impact, and relevance to evaluation professionals and scholars. The editor-in-chief will reflect AEA’s values and end goals through its operations and content. The editor-in-chief is appointed by the AEA Board of Directors for a 3-year term, which may be renewed following a satisfactory review of annual performance by the Board’s Publications Portfolio Task Force. A stipend will be provided to support a part-time managing editor.
The Editor-in-Chief is typically a senior- or mid-career evaluation scholar who possesses deep appreciation for the distinctive and diverse nature of evaluation’s theory, methods, and practice and for the breadth and heterogeneity of the profession and its scholarship. The successful applicant is an AEA member of at least 5 years and holds a doctorate in evaluation or a related field. The successful applicant will have a demonstrated record of academic and evaluation accomplishments including a record of peer-reviewed publications on evaluation. The successful applicant will possess experience with the editorial process as an editor, associate or assistant editor, or editorial board member. The successful applicant will have a record as an effective manager and leader. The successful applicant will have an institutional home that can support the journal’s operations and which agrees to provide the applicant with needed accommodations to ordinary duties in order to fulfill the role of editor-in-chief.
Applications must be submitted by January 22, 2018 to AEA’s Executive Director, Denise Roosendaal at droosendaal@eval.org. Applications must include a cover letter that addresses the applicant’s qualifications for the role and describes the institutional support available to fulfill it, a curriculum vita, and the names and contact information for three references who can speak to the applicant’s ability to perform the required editorial duties. Applicants are strongly encouraged to provide evidence of institutional support for fulfilling the role of Editor, given the substantial commitment of time required to edit a prestigious scholarly journal like AJE. Applications will be reviewed by the Board’s Publications Portfolio Task Force. A selection will be made by AEA’s Board of Directors in March 2018 to provide sufficient time to transition journal operations to the successful candidate. The new editor will assume his or her responsibilities as Editor-in-Chief as of January 2019. A six month transition period is expected between July-December 2018.
Please direct questions about the editor-in-chief position to Robin L. Miller, Chair of the AEA Publications Portfolio Task Force, at mill1493@msu.edu.
Dialogues on Race and Class - San Antonio, TX
From Zachary Grays, AEA Headquarters
This year the American Evaluation Association (AEA), with generous support from W.K. Kellogg Foundation, embarked on hosting a series of national dialogues to reflect and promote positive actions on the deeply rooted, and structurally intertwined issues behind the headlines that propel racial, ethnic, and class disparities in our society. These complimentary discussions, moderated by Dr. Melvin Hall, Northern Arizona University Professor, Former Member of the AEA Board of Directors, bring together evaluators, policy analysts, applied researchers, and local activists to discern ways to proactively engage entrenched issues as the nation goes from one headline making incident to the next.
The full-length recording of the April Race and Class Dialogue in San Antonio, TX (in partnership with AERA), the second dialogue of the series, is now available here. Panelists included Celina Moreno, Legislative Attorney, Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF); Rogelo Sanz, Dean of the College of Public Policy and Mark G. Yudof Endowed Chair at the University of Texas at San Antonio; Liz Lutz, Executive Director of the Health Collaborative; Stafford Hood, Founding Director, Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation & Assessment, University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign; Mike Lowe, San-Antonio leader of Black Lives Matter and co-founder of SATX4, a grassroots organization founded in San Antonio, TX.
The final iteration of this project will take place Thursday, September 28th at 6pm as a part of the 4th Annual CREA conference with a reception to follow. Registration and panelist information is available here. The Dialogues on Race and Class will also be featured in a plenary session at Evaluation 2017.
Missed the first discussion in Washington, DC? Click here for the full recording.
Potent Presentations Initiative: Polish Your Public Speaking Skills
From Sheila B. Robinson, Potent Presentations Initiative Coordinator
Congratulations to all Evaluation 2017 presenters! Now that the schedule is out and you have to craft that presentation to share your work, now is a great time to focus on public speaking skills. A polished public speaker is a pearl in the making. It takes a great deal of time and effort for a grain of sand to become an iridescent gem.
There is no shortage of great advice available from accomplished speakers. Two great ways to learn from them are to read their blogs, and watch their videos.
One of my favorite public speaking coaches is Michael Hyatt, former CEO of a book publishing company who now writes about personal development, leadership, productivity, and public influence. In Psychological Secrets to Public Speaking, guest blogger Bryan Kelly shares “six revelations about what goes on inside the mind of every audience member, each backed up by scientific research.” Here are the “secrets” with just a snippet from each. Visit the blog post to learn more, including the supporting research that accompanies each one.
For videos of great public speakers, TED Talks are timeless and it’s easy to find a topic of interest. That said, try watching one in which the topic is NOT of interest to you. That way, you can concentrate on studying the presenter’s public speaking skills. One other place to visit is YouTube. Check out some of the speeches made by Toastmasters champions here. Many of the champions have gone on to share their tips and tricks for public speaking. From the Club to World Championship of Public Speaking: The Tale of Josephine Lee is one champion’s story of losing at the club level but later going on to beat out 30,000 competitors at the world level.
Don’t forget to visit our Potent Presentations Initiative (p2i) site for all your presentation needs!
While you’re there, check out the brand new Guidelines for Handouts Tool on the Presentation Tools and Guidelines page.
Have question, comment, or suggestion for p2i? Please contact me at p2i@eval.org and let’s talk!
The 2017 American Evaluation Association Ballot Is Now Open!
From AEA Staff
The AEA ballot is now open. Cast your vote today for AEA's incoming President-elect and Board Members-at-Large!
Please take a moment to carefully consider each candidate as thoughtful selection of the leadership ensures the vitality and longevity of the association. The ballot includes extensive personal statements developed by each nominee to help you make informed selections.
You will receive an email from elections@vote-now.com containing a link to the AEA election Ballot. Click the link to have your embedded passcode validated. This unique embedded passcode will allow you to vote only once. To ensure receipt please set your email to accept emails from elections@vote-now.com. Many spam detection systems recognize an email as an acceptable address after you have sent a message to it, so please feel free to email elections@vote-now.com from your email program, before the ballot opens.
Candidate bios and photos will be hyperlinked to their name on the ballot. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the candidates, their background, and their vision for AEA.
The AEA ballot opened on July 5, 2017 and will be available until 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Friday, August 4, 2017. You are allowed to vote one time. The 2017 nominees are:
President-elect (select 1):
Member-at-Large (select up to 3):
Candidate biographies are available from within the ballot or you may view a PDF of the candidates listed in alphabetical order here.
New! Meet the Candidates: This year AEA introduced a new opportunity for the membership to get to know the candidates for the Board via an online webinar. This is an excellent opportunity for you to get to know the candidates listed on the ballot and to hear first hand how they plan to serve you as a leader in the association. To get to know the candidates who will help shape the future of the association prior to the election, click the recordings below.
Note: All ballots are absolutely anonymous. Your voter code does not allow the AEA staff to view your personal ballot. This information is only used to assure that only one ballot per member is counted in the election. We value your privacy and rights as valued members and in no way do we wish to see that compromised. Please do not hesitate to email info@eval.org or call the AEA office at any time with questions or concerns related to the ballot or any of your member benefits. For any technical problems, please reply to this email to contact support@vote-now.com or call (888) 993-9801.