Hello from the Extension Education Evaluation (EEE) Topical Interest Group (TIG)! This electronic newsletter is published twice annually to maintain communications with the membership. You are welcome to contact the officers and board members of the TIG for information and to suggest ideas for TIG activities.

1999 EEE-TIG OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS:

EVALUATION 98: CHICAGO, IL

The EEE-TIG met during the AEA annual meeting in Chicago with an excellent attendance. The TIG held it's Annual Social for all TIG members on Wednesday, November 4 at the Berghof Restaurant.  After dinner, EEE-TIG awards were presented to the following individuals:

• Mary Marshall - Sustained Excellence in Extension Evaluation
• John Michael- Outstanding Leadership and Service to the Extension Evaluation
• Profession Nancy Ellen Kiernan - Excellence in Program Evaluation.

The remainder of the EEE-TIG awards were presented at the business meeting to those who could not attend the social. These awards were presented to:

• Murari Suvedi - Excellence in Program Evaluation
• Ellen Fitzsimmons - Mary Nell Greenwood Extension Evaluation Award.

The election of officers was held with the following results:

• Chair elect: Mike Duttweiler, Cornell University
• Representative/Southern Region: Glenn Israel, University of Florida
• Representative/North Central Region: Charlie Clark, University of Illinois

Dr. Ellen Fitzsimmons, Associate Dean and Associate Director of University of Wisconsin Extension was the guest speaker for the EEE-TIG Business session. Dr. Fitzsimmons's topic was "Living through a State Audit: Consequences for Evaluation".

ELECTRONIC PROCEEDINGS OF EEE-TIG SESSIONS

Each year the EEE-TIG sponsors a set of papers, workshops, panels, posters and roundtables. In 1998, 39 members submitted proposals for sessions at the annual meeting. The TIG sponsored three paper sessions with 16 presenters, two panel sessions, one workshop, one poster and one roundtable. Members who presented papers or other presentations at the Chicago meeting are encouraged to submit their papers to our EEE-TIG Web site for publication as electronic proceedings. Session papers and directions for submitting presented EEE-TIG papers can be found at the EEE-TIG website at http://danr.ucop.edu/eee-aea/.

EVALUATION 99: ORLANDO, FL

The 1999 AEA annual meeting will be held from Nov.3-6, at the Omni Rosen Hotel in warm and sunny Orlando, Florida. (DISCLAIMER: I will NOT be accountable for any weather pattern in the Orlando area during this time period that is not warm and sunny.) The theme for the 1999 conference is "The Territory Ahead - Foundations and Frontiers."

The AEA Call for Proposals just arrived a few days ago. The AEA call gives directions for preparing and submitting proposals for the 1999 AEA Conference directly to the Evaluation 99 Program Committee. (NOTE: If you wish for your proposal to be considered for inclusion in general AEA sessions or sessions sponsored by TIG s other than the EEE-TIG, you should submit your proposal directly to AEA and indicate on the submission form the TIG that you wish to have review your proposal.)  The EEE-TIG Call for Proposals will be arriving shortly from Mike Duttweiler, EEE-TIG Chair-Elect and 1999 Program Chair. Mike will provide directions for submitting proposals directly to the TIG for consideration to be included in an EEE-TIG sponsored session. If you want your proposal to be reviewed for inclusion in an EEE-TIG session, you would probably be better off submitting the proposal directly to the TIG using the EEE-TIG submission materials provided by Mike.  The EEE-TIG Board has suggested the following themes for possible EEE-TIG-sponsored sessions:

1. Innovative Methods (Paper or Poster)

2.  Evaluation Capacity Building/Training (Paper or Poster)

3. Evaluating Program Performance and Productivity (Paper Session or Innovative Format)

4. Assessing Regional, Multi-state, Multi-function, and Multi-disciplinary Efforts (Innovative Format Session)

5. Assessing the Research/Extension Interface (Paper Session or Innovative Format)

6. Assessing Internal and External Partnerships, Collaboratives and Teamwork (Paper Session)

7. Beyond Individual Program Evaluation: The Value and Relevance of Extension Programming at Local, Statewide and Regional Levels Additional session ideas are also welcome.

Begin thinking now about the sessions you might submit for this year.  Please remember that AEA and the EEE-TIG are looking for proposals in several different formats (i.e. posters, roundtables, panels, workshops, readings as well as papers--and others). As you begin to think of proposals for this conference keep in mind that our TIG has generally emphasized proposals related to evaluation practice rather than reporting evaluation results in its review of proposals. Look for a pre-call letter for proposal.

CALL FOR 1999 EEE-TIG AWARD NOMINATIONS

Each year the EEE-TIG presents awards in recognition of outstanding efforts to the profession. The awards are presented at the AEA meeting. We would like for you to be thinking about colleagues you feel are deserving of recognition and to nominate deserving individuals for the 1999 awards.  The five award categories and previous winners are:

1. Sustained Excellence in Extension Evaluation Award -For conceptual, methodological and evaluation accomplishments making outstanding contributions to Extension and evaluation. Previous recipients are Midge Smith and George Mayeske (1990), Richard Krueger (1991), Kay Rockwell (1992) , Sara Steele (1994) and Mary Marshall (1998).

2. The Mary Nell Greenwood Extension Evaluation Award -For administrative or program leadership toward outstanding organizational, policy and resource contributions to Extension evaluation. Previous recipients are:

• Leo Lucas (1990)
• John Woeste (1992)
• Gail Skinner-West (1995)
• Andrew Weber (1996)
• Ellen Fitzsimmons (1998).

3. Excellence in Program Evaluation Award -For an evaluation of outstanding quality. This may be an individual or team award to professional evaluators or to those whose major responsibility is not program evaluation. Criteria for excellence in program evaluation are accuracy, feasibility, propriety and utility, with particular emphasis placed on utility in improving Extension programs, policies and/or accountability. Previous recipients include:

• Michael Lambur and Judy Burtner (1994)
• Ken Pigg (1995).

4. Excellence in Evaluation Training Award -For evaluation training of outstanding quality to an individual or team. The nominees may be professional evaluator(s) or those whose major responsibility is not program evaluation. Criteria for excellence in evaluation training include creativity, enablement of trainees in evaluation practice, and the use of training to further extension evaluation. This award was presented to Kay Rockwell in 1996.

5. Outstanding Leadership and Service to the Extension Evaluation Profession -For leadership and service in creating networks and gaining visibility for Extension evaluators. John Michael was presented this award in 1998. Nominations for these awards may be made by members and/or non-members of the EEE-TIG. Nominees also need not be EEE-TIG members.  Nomination packets should be sent no later than July 1, 1999 to F. Richard Rohs, Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication, 109 Four Towers, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, email: epsdfrr@arches.uga.edu, Fax: 706-542-0262.

Nomination packets should consist of the following:

1. A one-page rationale for nomination, including

A. The specific award for which the nomination is submitted
B. Name, title, institution of the nominee(s)
C. Descriptive information to support the nomination

2. Appropriate supporting documents, such as a copy of product(s) developed by the nominee

3. Letters of support for this nomination

4. Name, address, phone & email address of person making the nomination

NOMINATIONS FOR 1999 EEE-TIG OFFICES

It s also not too early to be thinking about nominations for officer and board member positions that will be elected at the 1999 AEA meeting. The nominations committee consisting of Richard Rohs, Rich Poling and Mike Duttweiler welcomes any EEE-TIG member to submit their own name or nominate any other EEE-TIG member for the 1999 ballot. Nominees will be needed for the following positions in 1999: chair-elect, secretary-treasurer, and the Northeast and Western Regional representatives.

AEA MEMBERSHIP

AEA had a most interesting year in 1998. Due to problems with the management firm that had been hired to handle much of the AEA administrative duties, there has been some confusion about individual membership status. If you are uncertain as to your membership status with AEA , and especially if you did not receive the Call for Proposals from AEA for the 1999 conference, you may want to contact the AEA office to verify that your membership status is accurate.

EEE-TIG INFORMATION

If you or a colleague need any information about the EEE-TIG, please feel free to contact any of the EEE-TIG officers or regional representatives listed at the beginning of this newsletter. If you change your address, either postal address or e-mail address, if you have colleagues who would like to be included on the EEE-TIG mailing list, or if you would like your name removed from the EEE-TIG mailing list, contact Michael Newman, Membership Chair at: michaeln@ext.msstate.edu.

Sincerely,

Rich Poling
EEE-TIG Chair
Rpoling@utk.edu
(423) 974-7308