Upcoming events

    • 03/19/2025
    • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
    • Virtual
    • 81
    Register

    In response to the evolving landscape in this presidential administration, GBEN's programming committee is interested in convening a series of community conversations on evaluation-related topics. For this first session, we are holding a conversation about current best practices and strategies for data collection. We realize that policies are changing quickly and want to provide a space for our community to share ideas and approaches.

    Please come to the session with topics and ideas in mind, and at the beginning of the session, participants will rank topics for discussion. Depending upon the size of the group, we may break up into breakout rooms or stay in one zoom room. Future conversations will focus on topics surfaced, so if you have ideas or questions that aren't quite the right fit for this conversation, please share them as ideas for future sessions. 

    This session is open to GBEN members only and will not be recorded. The participants will establish conversation agreements at the beginning of the session.

    • 04/10/2025
    • 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
    • Zoom
    • 22
    Register

    Are you wondering what to do with your research skills, analytical mind, and passion for making a real-world impact? Welcome to the hidden world of EVALUATION - where data tells stories, impact matters, and your skills can change the world! Join our expert panel of evaluation professionals for an eye-opening evening that will: 

    • Demystify what evaluators REALLY do 
    • Reveal unexpected career paths across industries 

    • Show how YOUR current skills translate into an exciting profession 

    • Connect you with professionals who started exactly where you are now 

    The free event is open to all students, recent grads, and early career professionals. You must register to receive the Zoom link.

    Meet the Panelists! 

    Lily Acton (she/her) is an early-career evaluator with experience managing internal evaluation projects in hospital, public health, and public policy settings. Currently, she is the Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning Manager at Results for America, a non-profit dedicated to helping government leaders harness the power of evidence and data to fund economic mobility solutions that work. In her role, Lily leads evaluation design, impact evaluation, and continuous improvement projects for a national economic mobility program.In previous roles at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Boston Medical Center, Lily utilized her assessment, data management, and research skills to evaluate the impacts of public health programs and policies. Lily earned her Bachelor’s degree in Public Health from Davidson College and her Master of Public Healthdegree with a concentration in Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation from the Boston University School of Public Health. 

    Sarah Faude has over a decade of research, writing, and teaching experience at the intersection of public urban contexts and racial inequality, particularly in education. She has worked in evaluation roles for several nonprofits including Breakthrough Greater Boston, the Youth Development Initiative Program (YDIP) at Northeastern, 826 National, and most recently YW Boston, where she served as Senior Director of Data and Impact leading multi-sited research on program impact. Sarah received her Ph.D. in sociology from Northeastern University in 2019, M.S.Ed from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011, and BA in Sociology from Skidmore College. 

    Emily McDowell, Research & Evaluation Associate with the Utah Education Policy Center at the University of Utah




    Outlaw (they/them) comes from a background in clinical medicine, public health, and education. They hold a Masters in Public Health from Boston University's School of Public Health and dual Bachelor's in Biology and Theater from Macalester College. They are a mixed-methods evaluator who brings their experience in both the arts and community health to their data equity work. Their knowledge in equitable research practices is built from frameworks in Black feminism, decolonization, and critical race praxis. Outlaw’s work is additionally influenced by their identity as a queer, neurodivergent, and disabled person. They currently work as a Research Associate at Data+Soul Research.

    Shanyin Yang is an Epidemiologist I at the Institute for Community Health, where she specializes in analyzing quantitative data to support program evaluations. Collaborating with diverse project teams, some areas that Shanyin works on are mental health, substance use prevention and treatment, and healthcare access for vulnerable populations. Before joining ICH, Shanyin contributed to research focused on psychiatric rehabilitation and smoking cessation for individuals living with HIV. Shanyin earned her BA in Psychology from Lafayette College and her Master of Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health, with a concentration in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. 

Past events

03/11/2025 Increase your Excel Efficiency 2.0!
02/26/2025 Principles-Focused Approaches to Evaluation & Interest Holder Engagement
02/03/2025 GBEN In-person Social Event
01/22/2025 The Art of Tough Conversations: Words That Work When It Matters
01/17/2025 GBEN 2025 Annual Meeting
12/05/2024 Using Comics for Amplifying Voices in Evaluation
11/14/2024 Designing Evaluation Products from a UX/Human Centered approach
09/30/2024 Onboarding and Managing a New Evaluator
09/23/2024 GBEN In-person Social Event
06/06/2024 GBEN In-person Social Event
05/29/2024 Learning Logs for Short-cycle Feedback and Long-term Learning
04/24/2024 Increase your Excel Efficiency!
04/03/2024 Careers in Evaluation
03/22/2024 When Bots Attack!
03/06/2024 Equitable Evaluation (EE) Discussion Group
02/26/2024 GBEN In-person Social Event
02/15/2024 Evaluation and ChatGPT
01/31/2024 GBEN Member Orientation
01/26/2024 Looking ahead together in 2024 - GBEN Annual Meeting
01/18/2024 Problems of Practice Office Hours
12/07/2023 Equitable Evaluation (EE) Discussion Group
12/05/2023 Other Duties as Assigned: Tech Contracts: Putting you in the Driver’s Seat
11/14/2023 Problems of Practice Office Hours
11/09/2023 Other Duties as Assigned: Determining Systems & Vendors
10/19/2023 Equitable Evaluation (EE) Discussion Group
10/17/2023 Other Duties as Assigned: Knowing What You Need
09/28/2023 Add color to your data collection toolkit
09/18/2023 GBEN In-person Social Event
07/18/2023 Equitable Evaluation Discussion Group
06/26/2023 GBEN In-person Social Event
06/13/2023 Using Space and Place to Enhance Program Evaluation
05/25/2023 Problems of Practice Office Hours
05/16/2023 Deepening Participatory Practices
05/05/2023 GBEN Member Orientation
04/19/2023 Problems of Practice Office Hours
03/30/2023 Eating (and liking) your vegetables: Fun & novel ways to enhance staff evaluation capacity
03/29/2023 Building Boston's Bench of Evaluators
03/15/2023 Problems of Practice Office Hours
02/13/2023 GBEN In-person Social Event
01/27/2023 Connections for a fruitful 2023 - GBEN Annual Meeting
01/26/2023 Data Viz Gallery Walk
12/21/2022 End of Year Gathering and Reflection
11/16/2022 Using a Systems-based Culturally responsive Evaluation (SysCRE) Framework
10/21/2022 SCENE CollabStream Meet Up
09/15/2022 Data Feminism
08/01/2022 GBEN In-person Social Event
07/20/2022 GBEN Member Orientation
07/13/2022 Outcome Harvesting
07/12/2022 Equitable Evaluation Discussion Group
06/06/2022 Coding Qualitative Data with Limited Resources
05/17/2022 Qualitative Evaluation 101
04/07/2022 SCENE Event: Co-creating Contractual & Organizational Support
03/31/2022 How to Build In CRE into Design of an Evaluation
03/17/2022 How to Catch a Cloud: the Art and Science of Evaluation in Unstructured, Informal, Dynamic Settings
02/23/2022 Collaborate, Commiserate, Learn & Celebrate
02/11/2022 Celebrate GBEN and meet out new President!
01/27/2022 SCENE Event: Cultivating Self and Teams
11/18/2021 Reflections on "Value" within E-valuation: A Book Talk by Authors Thomas Schwandt and Emily Gates
11/18/2021 Ready to Engage?: Developing a Learning + Action Agenda to Conduct Culturally Responsive and Racial Equity Evaluation
10/27/2021 Inside Job: Strategies for maximizing the impact of your internal evaluation practice
10/15/2021 GBEN Member Orientation
06/21/2021 Data Corners
04/06/2021 Culturally Responsive Evaluation (CRE): Theory to Practice
03/18/2021 Critical Race Theory, Part 1
02/24/2021 Bring an Idea, leave with new perspective(s)
12/16/2020 Internal Evaluation (discussion-style)
11/16/2020 Culturally Responsive Evaluation (CRE): Introduction and Inquiry
11/10/2020 Getting Started with Consulting: An introductory webinar for evaluators who want to start consulting practices
09/29/2020 Let’s hear it for the visuals! How one evaluator collaborated with coalitions to create infographics
09/10/2020 Leadership and Libations!
07/22/2020 Evaluators as “Accidental Techies:” What we’ve learned about database implementation
06/17/2020 Adapting Evaluations during COVID-June Roundtable
05/13/2020 Qualitative Comparative Analysis - May roundtable
04/23/2020 Values in Evaluation Applied: Balancing Stakeholder, Commissioner, & Evaluator Values in Evaluation
03/09/2020 Presentation on Trauma-informed Data Collection
02/12/2020 Roundtable on Building Evidence
12/04/2019 An Approach to Multi-Grantee Evaluation
11/14/2019 GBEN at AEA
11/04/2019 2019 Annual Meeting
10/29/2019 What should evaluators know about IRBs?
09/10/2019 Hiring for an Evaluation Position:Tips, Tricks, and Lesson’s Learned
08/21/2019 Independent Evaluators Meetup
08/21/2019 Logic Models: How to Engage Stakeholders and Create Innovative Products
07/22/2019 Summer social meetup
06/18/2019 Social Network Analysis
05/14/2019 Racial Equity and Evaluation
04/18/2019 Independent Evaluators Meetup
04/18/2019 Values in Evaluation-Panel at Boston College
03/05/2019 Empowerment Evaluation
02/05/2019 Impact Evaluation Panel at Northeastern University
01/14/2019 January Social Meet-up
12/04/2018 December 4th Roundtable-Budgeting for Evaluation
11/05/2018 2018 Business Meeting
11/01/2018 2018 AEA Meet up!
10/03/2018 October 3rd Roundtable: Community Health Needs Assessments
09/06/2018 How to Host Webinars that Don’t Suck
08/07/2018 August 7th Roundtable:Qualitative Evaluation
07/12/2018 July 12th-Summer Meet-up!
06/05/2018 June 5th Roundtable-Repurposing Existing Data
04/26/2018 Meetup for Independent Consultants
04/10/2018 April Social Meet-up
04/04/2018 April 4th Roundtable
03/13/2018 March Social Meet-up
02/06/2018 February Roundtable-Usability Testing for Evaluation Researchers

Greater Boston Evaluation Network is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. 

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