145 - Challenges and Opportunities in Evaluating University-Based Centers and Institutes

Abstract Information: This Birds of a Feather session will provide an opportunity for those evaluating university centers and institutes to discuss their experiences and thoughts on best practices and lessons learned for evaluating academic centers, including self-assessment of one’s own center. Through informal discussion, we will explore different strategies and challenges of evaluating centers. For example, how do you determine the level of integration with the center, what are effective ways to obtain buy-in from key audiences, and how do you measure impact at the center level? In addition to the goal of better understanding best practices around center evaluations, a secondary goal of this session is to build a network of evaluators, who might be able to support each other in this area. We will explore opportunities for partnered evaluation between university-based centers or other possibilities for collaboration. Evaluators, evaluands, funders, and other stakeholders would be invited to participate in this discussion.