University-Based Centers

We are Bich Do, Research Associate, and Sam Robison, Associate Director and Associate Professor of Research of the Louisiana State University Social Research and Evaluation Center. In this post, we discuss the challenges of evaluation work in a large university system situated in the Deep South, shedding light on the unique challenges and solutions we’ve encountered while striving to align with the AEA Guiding Principles.

Hi! We are Rae Jing Han, Liz Litzler, Erin Carll, Emily Knaphus-Soran, and Daniel Mackin Freeman from the University of Washington Center for Evaluation & Research for STEM Equity. Our center usually employs 6-10 students (graduate and undergraduate) to help us with our evaluation and research projects. We love the energy and perspective students bring, and over time, we have learned a few things about the strengths students bring to our work and some strategies for supporting them in their role.  We have incorporated student voices in quotes.

Greetings from Oxford, Mississippi! My name is Sarah Mason and I am the Director of the Center for Research Evaluation (CERE) at the University of Mississippi. I also serve as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the AEA journal, New Directions for Evaluation.

Hi AEA members! My name is Shannon Sharp, and I am an Evaluation Associate at the University of Mississippi’s Center for Research Evaluation (CERE). I have worked at this University-Based Evaluation center (UBC) for seven years, and in that time, I have come to realize that there are benefits—both professional and personal—to working within a university system that are often not available when working in other sectors.

Hey all! We are Olivia Melvin, Gray Flora, and Yasmin McLaurin. This blog is written from the perspective of an evaluator-client dyad of a student success program served by a University-Based Evaluation Center at the University of Mississippi. This year-long evaluative capacity building partnership formed in early-stage program development. The content for this blog post was generated via unstructured reflective interview.

Hello, AEA Colleagues! We are Ashlee Lewis and Jen Crooks-Monastra, evaluators from the Research, Evaluation, and Measurement Center in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina. Today, we’d like to share some insights we have gleaned from working with researchers whose knowledge paradigms differ from our own.

Hi, I am Jessica Osborne, Principal Evaluation Associate at the Center for Research Evaluation at the University of Mississippi and Chair of the UBC TIG.

I’m Elizabeth Winchester (she/her) from the Social Research and Evaluation Center at Louisiana State University. I’ve been a research associate working with non-profits, foundations, federal, state, and local agencies for over 20 years creating data collection and evaluation plans. For today’s University-Based Center TIG week post, I want to share my thoughts on working with agencies who …

University-Based Centers TIG Week: When Evaluation Doesn’t Mean Evaluation by Elizabeth Winchester Read More »

Hello, everyone, from part of our team at the University of Mississippi (UM) Center for Research Evaluation (CERE)— Olivia Melvin, evaluation associate and (semi-)recent graduate of UM; and Anna Kang, current undergraduate student worker majoring in exercise science. CERE is a university-based center at UM. We are not student-facing, nor do we have a degree/certificate …

University-Based Centers TIG Week: Undergrads4Eval: Evaluative Experience and its Connection to Classroom and Career Skills by Olivia Melvin and Anna Kang Read More »

My name is Brad Watts, and I am a seasoned evaluator with a career background that includes positions at two different university-based centers. Currently, I serve as the Assistant Director of The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University (WMU) and the co-program chair for the University-Based Centers (UBC) TIG. As The Evaluation Center begins its …

University-Based Centers TIG Week: Lessons Learned from the History of Making a University-Based Center by Brad Watts Read More »