Speakers

Emily Gates, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment (MESA) Department in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. She has been practicing evaluation for over a decade in STEM education, K-12 teaching, and public health. 

Her research examines the intersecting issues of systems, values, and equity in evaluation. Recent work includes co-authoring a book, Evaluating and Valuing in Social Research; coediting a special issue of New Directions for Evaluation on systems-informed evaluation; and leading a study on equity in evaluation. She teaches graduate courses in evaluation practice and methods, evaluation theory and research, mixed methods inquiry, and theory of change. Prior to academia, she was an evaluation fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a concentration in evaluation from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Aileen M. Reid, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Educational Research Methodology department and a Senior Fellow in the Office of Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Services (OAERS) at UNC Greensboro. 

Dr. Reid’s research applies culturally responsive frameworks to evaluation and measurement to shape educational research and policy, and to investigate inequities in outcomes among underrepresented and minoritized groups. She also investigates values-engaged teaching, learning, and mentorship in research and evaluation. Dr. Reid co-directs the STEM Program Evaluation Lab (SPEL), which provides training in research and evaluation for graduate and undergraduate students on STEM education projects. Dr. Reid is Co-Principal Investigator for three NSF funded projects, including Spartans ADVANCE Adaptation project, which explores best practices for faculty equity, diversity, and inclusion. She also leads the external evaluation and research teams for seven National Science Foundation (NSF) funded projects. Dr. Reid holds a B.A. in public policy studies from Duke University, M.P.A. from New York University, and M.S. and Ph.D. in educational research, measurement, and evaluation from UNC Greensboro.

Jessica (Jess) Venable, Ph.D. is known for her work in higher education policy and reform, particularly as it pertains to how underserved and underrepresented individuals, institutions, and groups are represented in, and benefit from, the Federal funding landscape. She assists faculty in increasing the extramural funding base needed to support research, scholarship, innovation, teaching, and community engagement. Jess also leads a successful Grantsmanship Initiative. 

During her career, she has worked closely with a range of grant writers – including researchers, educators, and non-profits – to gain the skills they need to be successful across the entire grants lifecycle. Using a “coaches” approach to learning, Jess helps grant writers self-discover solutions to proposal development, while challenging conventional thinking about research funding that creates barriers across cultures and institutions. Since 2015 alone, investigators participating in her training and coaching sessions have secured more than $85 million in sponsored awards related to the proposals they developed in her workshops. Jessica’s academic scholarship draws on concepts of social justice, research justice, educational justice, philosophy and history of science, decolonization, and critical race theory to advocate for legitimate “senses of places” in federally sponsored projects. Through these ideas, she argues for congruence in thought, policy, and practice in making claims that diversity in habits of mind and action has been, and always will be, the sine qua non of human survival.