Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute

Evaluation around the world and in your backyard: Strategies, tips, & techniques

March 3-7, 2008

MESI pre-session, March 3-4 (2 full days)

Holiday Inn Select – Bloomington, Minn.
952-854-9000
(near Mall of America and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport)

Registration form [.pdf]

The annual Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute (MESI) is designed for professional evaluators, program directors in non-profit and for-profit organizations, and others interested in conducting or using evaluations. Sponsored by the Department of Educational Policy and Administration in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota, MESI provides a unique opportunity in a small setting to learn and reflect on contemporary issues in evaluation with national experts and practitioners.

MESI pre-session, March 3-4, 2008 (2 full days)

• Introduction to Program Evaluation
  Stacey Stockdill, EnSearch
• Focus Group Methods
  Richard Krueger, University of Minnesota

MESI conference, March 5-7, 2008 (ends at noon on Friday)

The Robert Beck Endowed Lecture: Ross Conner

Ross Conner is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, where he was founding Director of the Center for Community Health Research in the School of Social Ecology. He also serves on the faculty of the Evaluators’ Institute (USA), the Claremont Graduate University’s Evaluation and Applied Research Methods summer institute (USA), and American Hospital Association-Healthforum (USA) teaching and advising on community-based evaluation. In partnership with communities of many types, in the U.S. and abroad, including Hispanic/Latino, Chinese, Korean, and immigrant communities, he works primarily on community health promotion and disease prevention using the World Health Organization’s “healthy communities” framework. He is a former president of the American Evaluation Association and, in 2006 and 2007, was President of the International Organisation for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE), the international professional association for evaluation societies, groups, and networks around the world.

The Mary E. Corcoran Endowed Lecture: Jennifer Greene

Jennifer Greene received her doctorate in educational psychology from Stanford University in 1976 and has held academic appointments at the University of Rhode Island, Cornell University, and presently the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her evaluation scholarship probes the intersections of social science methods with policy discourse and program decision-making, with the intent of making evaluation useful and socially responsible. She has
concentrated specifically on qualitative, mixed method, and democratic approaches to evaluation. She has published widely in journals and books on program evaluation, has held leadership positions in AERA and AEA, and was recently co-Editor-in-Chief of New Directions for Evaluation.

Concurrent sessions:

• David Chapman and Christopher Johnstone, University of Minnesota
• Ross Conner, University of California, Irvine
• Gry Folge, Geir Hyrve, and Karl-Johan Johansen, Oslo, Norway
• Jennifer Greene, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Richard Krueger, University of Minnesota
• Vanessa McKendall-Stephens, FaceValu Consulting
• Randi Nelson, University of Minnesota
• Julie Nielson, University of Minnesota
• Michael Quinn Patton, Union Institute
• Michael Rodriguez, University of Minnesota
• Plus a NEW "Ask the Expert" session on Friday!

For more information, see Registration form [.pdf] or contact Ann Mavis at mavis001@umn.edu or 612-624-1489.