Beverly is committed to fostering health and well-being for people and planet as evidenced in the new book, Visionary Evaluation for a Sustainable, Equitable Future (2020, Information Age Publishing). She is the book's co-editor as well as co-author of several chapters. The book's title matches the theme of the 2014 American Evaluation Association (AEA) conference, the year she was president of AEA.

Beverly has worked and lived nationally and internationally in rural, suburban, urban, and indigenous communities. She has worked closely with governors, legislators, local communities, philanthropy, universities, and businesses across social sectors particularly education, health, environment, and social services. Her PhD in educational research and evaluation (University of Colorado-Boulder) grounds a career of compassionately using mixed evaluation, research, and facilitation strategies to reveal ways to influence complex systems in support of learning, equity, and sustainability. Her background in medicine and science (BS in medical technology, instructor of physiological chemistry, University of Wisconsin) has strengthened her interdisciplinary interests and focus.

Beverly is executive director of InSites (www.insites.org). InSites works through inquiry-based evaluation, planning, and research to support learning, growth, and change in formal and informal social systems. InSites pays particular attention to how social systems attend to environmental sustainability, social justice, economic well-being, and community development. She lives with her husband in Hansville, WA and enjoys hiking, organic gardening, and playing the harp.

Workshop: Integrating Sustainability and Systems Thinking into Evaluation Practice

Thursday - Oct 8^th, 9:00 am-4:00 pm

Dr. Beverly Parsons

Intended outcomes: At the end of the workshop, the participants will be able to:

• articulate ways to integrate attention to environmental sustainability and systems thinking into evaluation practice
• build/enhance connections with fellow attendees to support engagement in, and ongoing learning about, evaluation that systemically addresses the critical environmental and cultural issues of today

Intended audience:

The workshop is designed for both evaluators and users of evaluation (e.g., program and initiative leaders, foundation leaders, academics, government employees, policymakers, and other stakeholders).

Participants are strongly encouraged to attend as teams that consist of both evaluators and evaluation users.

Description:

The workshop will illustrate how environmental sustainability and systems thinking can be integrated into evaluation practice through the exploration of  the following topics:

    a)  Thinking in systems

    b)  Cultural and ecological systemic contexts for evaluation

    c)  Types of systems change including systemic adjustments, adaptations, and transformations

    d)  Aligning evaluation designs with cultural and ecological contexts and desired systems change

    e)  Evolving roles for evaluators in complex situations

Throughout the workshop, attendees will work in small groups to apply the topics to their situation. Their application will be stimulated by the use of a practical example of the work of a partnership centered on early childhood education and care. The small group discussions are intended as a means for the participants to get to know one another as much as to develop a shared understanding of key concepts around systems- and evaluative-thinking. The goal is for participants to leave with new/stronger connections to support one another in ongoing learning/practice after the workshop. One learns to effectively use a systems orientation over a lifetime rather than in a single workshop.

The workshop will be a mix of presentation, discussion, and small group work.

Morning 3-Hour Workshop

Afternoon 3-Hour Workshop