Center Events

The Evaluation Partnerships: A Systems Approach to Program Evaluation
Monica Hargraves, Manager of Evaluation for Extension and Outreach, CORE

Thursday, March 15, 2012
12:00-1:00pm
Beebe Hall, 2nd floor conference room

The Cornell Office for Research on Evaluation (CORE), led by Professor William Trochim, has been conducting and applying research on a new approach to evaluation planning and evaluation capacity-building. CORE’s approach is grounded in an evolutionary, “systems” view of programs – basically, that programs are systems nested within organizations which are nested within larger entities and so on, and that they evolve and change over time. Simple as these principles may seem, this systems approach has significant implications for how to conduct evaluations. CORE has developed a Protocol for this approach to evaluation and has used it in “Evaluation Partnerships” with more than 50 Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) programs as well as a number of outreach programs at research centers across the US. Monica Hargraves leads the facilitation of CORE’s Evaluation Partnerships with CCE. She will introduce the Protocol and talk about how it has worked in practice within Extension programs, the impacts it has had on program staff and their work, and its implications for building the research base for programs and their evaluation.

Monica Hargraves has a Ph.D. in economics and spent the early part of her career at Brown University and in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund. Her growing interest in more applied, community-based work precipitated a significant career shift. In 1998 she joined the staff of Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, where she ran volunteer and educational outreach programs and later moved into organizational roles focused on valuing the work of Extension, internal reporting systems, strategic planning, and evaluation. She joined CORE’s research team in 2008, and works with Extension organizations and programs across NYS to build capacity for evaluation. Her research and applied interests involve integrating evaluation into the on-going work of program management and program development at all levels of the system, and improving the understanding and ultimately the valuation of Extension work.

Lunch will be served.  This event is free and open to all.
Metered parking is available across Plantations Rd. in The Plantations lot.