Professor Emerita
Syracuse University, United States
KAREN E. KIRKHART, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita, School of Social Work, Syracuse University. She has been active in the evaluation profession for over forty years. She held leadership positions in both predecessor organizations—Evaluation Network and Evaluation Research Society—that joined to form the American Evaluation Association (AEA). In 1994, she served as AEA President, choosing the conference theme, Evaluation and Social Justice. She chaired the Cultural Reading Task Force that informed the third edition of the Program Evaluation Standards (Yarbrough, Shulha, Hopson & Caruthers, 2014) and was a member of the writing team that developed the AEA Statement on Cultural Competence in Evaluation (2011). In 2007, her contributions were recognized with the Robert Ingle Award for Outstanding Service to the AEA.
Dr. Kirkhart’s scholarship centers on culture, validity, and evaluation influence. Her 1994 Presidential Address introduced the concept of multicultural validity (Kirkhart, 1995) and in 2000, she proposed a broader conceptualization of evaluation use as influence. Her work has been recognized with the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award for Outstanding Contribution to Evaluation Theory (2007). Having served as a consultant to the development of an Indigenous Evaluation Framework (LaFrance & Nichols, 2009), Karen collaborated with Joan LaFrance and Richard Nichols, on “Cultural views of validity: A conversation,” in S. Hood, R. K. Hopson, & H. Frierson (Eds.) (2015), Continuing the journey to reposition culture and cultural context in evaluation theory and practice. Karen continues to work with Joan LaFrance to explore Indigenous perspectives on evaluation influence.
Karen is currently a member of the AJE Editorial Board, and an Affiliate Faculty of the Center for Culturally Responsive Research and Evaluation (CREA) founded by Stafford L. Hood at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Karen lives in Syracuse, NY with her partner of 40 years (and 2004 AEA President), Nick L. Smith.
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Indigenous Visions of Evaluation Use/Influence
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
4:15 PM - 5:15 PM PST