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Joe Bauer, Ph.D. – Chair of the Organizational
Learning-Evaluation Capacity Building (OL-ECB) Topical Interest Group/ American
Evaluation Association
I am currently the Director of Survey Research in the
Statistics & Evaluation Center (SEC) at the National Home Office of the
American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia.
Additionally, I am an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of
Biostatistics and Bioinformatics in the Rollins School of Public Health at
Emory University. Our Department
consults/ collaborates with people from across the Society/Divisions, which
includes a network of people that stretches across all 50 states. My role has allowed me to work on many
different kinds and types of problems related to both mission- and
income-delivery. This has also afforded
me the opportunity to work on several international cancer control projects in
countries like China, India, Brazil, Vietnam, and currently in sub-Saharan
Africa. Our study designs use quantitative and qualitative approaches within a
logic modeling rubric that utilizes multiple methods to produce robust
findings. Our focus is on delivering
valid, reliable, accurate, and timely information to stakeholders for
evidence-based decision making, with the goal of improving programs and services
for cancer patients, their caregivers, and their families. Every day is fun and
exciting, as there are always new and interesting problems to solve.
I have been fortunate, in that, throughout my career, I’ve
always had challenging jobs that have pushed my problem-solving capabilities to
their limit, but almost always with access to state-of-the-art informatics
tools, that allowed me to pursue ongoing learning to acquire whatever knowledge
was needed to apply to the task at hand.
I have also found, in retrospect, that every job I’ve ever had – has
prepared me well for my current job. I
got involved in evaluation several years ago, when I was hired as a Director of
Evaluation for Medical Education at the State University of New York at Buffalo
– School of Medicine. I played a key
role in redesigning the undergraduate and graduate medical education curriculum
that evolved from a traditional lecture-based system to a problem-based
learning environment. My evaluation experiences continued when I transitioned
to working at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, an NCI-designated Comprehensive
Cancer Center, as a Senior Biostatistician in the Department of Health Behavior. Within a grant-seeking environment, we
conducted many population- and clinically-based research studies, much of it
being focused on tobacco control. My
role later expanded, as I became the founding Director of the Survey Research
and Data Acquisition Resource (SR-DAR), which became a Center Core Resource,
supporting cancer control work across the Institute. I wrote grants, designed studies, and
conducted evaluations, analyzed data, and wrote up results for presentation at
National Conferences and publication in peer-reviewed journals. All of these experiences have led me to where
I am today.
Jeff Sheldon, M. A., Ed. M.: OL – ECB TIG Leadership Council
My interest in organizational learning and evaluation
capacity building, both theoretically and in application, has been slowly, but
not methodically, pieced together from different experiences across a variety
of settings. The seminal, early - career
experience was the five years spent as a high school Science faculty member and
department chair honing the teaching, mentoring, and coaching skills I would eventually
use (little did I know) in helping build individual and organizational evaluation
capacity. A few years later, as my first
evaluation experience, I worked with community – based providers on a statewide,
early childhood school - readiness initiative using an approach that would
eventually become one of the two leading empowerment evaluation models. Soon thereafter, I served as a technical
assistant for an alcohol and drug - abuse prevention agency implementing,
albeit with resistance, a similar evaluation model. Next, there was a brief, yet formative, foray
into organizational learning and development as an applied social science research and evaluation intern in a South
African HIV/Aids Care Centre. Last, my
early research focused on accounting for contextual factors that influence evaluative
inquiry, utilization, and organizational learning. Currently, I am the community researcher at Methodist
Hospital of Southern California where I conduct public health related studies
and build the evaluation capacity of our community providers. I am also an advanced Psychology doctoral
student (ABD) concentrating in evaluation and applied research methods at the
School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences, Claremont Graduate
University. My dissertation study, tangentially
related to organizational learning and evaluation capacity building, is
attempting to measure the extent to which self – determination and empowerment
are outcomes of empowerment evaluation.
Angela Moore, MPH, OL – ECB TIG Program Co-Chair
My interest in organizational learning and evaluation capacity building stems from my transition from biomedical research into public health. After working at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in a laboratory setting, I decided that public health was a better fit for my long-term education and career goals. My first experience in public health and evaluation was as a Project Manager for a non-profit community based organization that focuses on environmental health and social justice issues. I learned first hand the many challenges that community based organizations face in terms of program resourcing, effective program implementation, and evaluation. This experience gave me a bird’s eye view of exactly what is needed to build evaluation capacity within a network of community based organizations. After a year in this position, I began to wonder to what extent are these challenges reflected within other public health organizations. An opportunity presented itself in the form of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Prevention Service. The Public Health Prevention Service is a 3-year training and service fellowship that provides experience in public health program planning, implementation, and evaluation. As a Public Health Prevention Specialist within the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, I had experiences related to : providing program evaluation training and technical assistance to TB Control program managers, planning and initiating cross coordination of evaluative efforts among sites involved in the Intensification of TB Prevention, Control, and Elimination Activities in African American Communities Project, and assisting in the development of a Cultural Competency Assessment Toolkit for TB clinicians. After my stint in the Division of Tuberculosis and Elimination, I worked within the Office on Smoking and Health where I conducted an environmental scan to assess the US Border Region for areas of growth and opportunity in tobacco control and prevention. After having these experiences at the federal level, I then went on to work with the wonderful staff of the Northwest Georgia Health District. I served as an evaluation consultant on many public health programs within the district. I was also able to develop and implement a child health consultation program in ten county health departments. This experience was instrumental in helping me truly make the linkage between organizational learning and evaluation capacity building. Currently I am the Lead Public Health Advisor for a Program Evaluation and Partnership Team that provides technical assistance and training to grantees. Our small but mighty team is currently engaged in activities related to: evaluating grantee adoption and implementation of comprehensive cancer control priorities, identifying attributes related to effective comprehensive cancer control partnerships, and assessing the effectiveness of comprehensive cancer control evaluation capacity building efforts. I have learned a lot through these unique evaluation experiences, and I continue to look for new and exciting opportunities to broaden my expertise and experiences in this area.
Jesse Burns, Ed.M., OL – ECB TIG Program Co-Chair