I came to the field of evaluation not actually realizing how much I would love it. As an undergraduate psychology major at West Virginia Wesleyan College (go Bobcats!), I had no clue what to do with myself post-graduation. Then, one glorious day, our career office brought back to campus an alumnus who had enrolled in the applied psychology graduate program at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He brought with him stories of doing actual evaluation and consulting work for real clients in a practicum called Applied Research Consultants–experience and training that helped one of his grad school colleagues land a nearly six figure consulting gig. The “nearly six figures” bit caught my attention–it certainly seemed more suited to my interests and abilities than a career as a therapist. (God bless ’em, therapists are special people and I don’t think I could do what they do on a daily basis.)

So, I guess you can say I was first drawn toward evaluation by the promise of a very lucrative pay day.

(Now we’ll just wait while all the evaluators reading this roll around on the floor for a few minutes laughing their keisters off . . . )

I followed in my fellow Bobcat’s path and enrolled in the SIUC applied psychology program, earned my Master’s degree, and eventually left the program ABD (moving back to WV, getting a full-time job, and starting a family tended to interfere with that whole dissertation thing). Although the program wasn’t everything I expected (and nobody I knew personally in the program has ever made anywhere close to six figures), I did discover that I truly loved doing evaluation work. My favorite training and education happened through Applied Research Consultants–working directly with clients to help answer their questions and meet their needs. That was fantastic!

So, thanks to my time among the Salukis in Little Egypt, I found my calling: helping  people through evaluation! After I moved back to West Virginia in 2003, I spent a few months temping as a file clerk and serving as legislative secretary. Then I was, very fortunately, hired by a fantastic non-profit with a long history of education research, development, evaluation, and training in the Appalachian region. I’ve been working at the same company since–grateful that I get to contribute to the field of education through program evaluation.

Welcome, Reader-Friends! I’m glad you’re here!
Georgia