138 - Another path within human services work: Empowering undergraduate college students to explore evaluation as a possible career

Abstract Information: As a team of evaluators working in a university setting, we understand personally the winding and often unintentional road that leads folks to a career in evaluation. Many of us started out as educators, program coordinators, or doing other human services-focused work and transitioned to a career in evaluation later on. In many ways, this is because ‘evaluation as a career’ was not introduced to us during our undergraduate experiences, though it would have been relevant to our studies in education, psychology, and public health (among others). Given the reality that some of the most popular human services careers, like social workers and marriage and family therapists, also have some of the highest rates of burnout, it is important to introduce undergraduate students to a variety of career paths that meet their passion for helping people, including evaluation. Our team, the Community Research, Evaluation and Development (CRED) Team, has been working closely with our home department, Human Development and Family Studies, as well as other relevant departments at the University of Arizona to provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to learn about and contribute to culturally-responsive, community-based evaluation work. Given the diversity of the projects we support, we work mindfully to match students to projects that are relevant to their interests and skillsets. We aim to provide intentional, scaffolded supervision and guidance that promotes independent problem-solving and creates a safe space for risk and mistakes. Our projects focus on supporting the thriving of Arizona families. Similarly, our approach to working with students is focused on their health, wellness, and thriving. This often means that we adapt and change our plans and goals for students to ensure that their needs as a human come first. Regardless of whether students pursue a future career in evaluation, our goal is that they walk away from their experience with a set of technical skills and an evaluative mindset that they can use in a variety of future jobs. Our poster will share the evolution of our support for undergraduates, including our successes and pitfalls. We’ll also present the results of a survey disseminated in 2024 to past CRED undergraduate research assistants intended to capture the knowledge and skills they gained during their time on the team and how they’re applying what they learned in their current professional work. Finally, we’ll share strategies, tools, and resources we’ve found useful in supporting undergraduate research assistants. With guiding questions, we’ll encourage attendees to share their best practices for engaging undergraduates in evaluation work.