MESI GRA’s and Interns in alphabetical order
Kirsten Anderson
MESI Projects: North side Community Response Team
Kirsten Anderson is a Master’s student in the Evaluation Studies Program at the University of Minnesota. She has Bachelor’s Degrees in Sociology, English, and Latin from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Following her undergraduate work, Kirsten worked as an English teacher and then Intern Coordinator in Cairo, Egypt. On returning to North America, she served as an AmeriCorps Member responsible for diversity outreach for the American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids in Grand Rapids, MI. At the end of her term of service, Kirsten began to pursue a career as an evaluator with a position at Hanssen Consulting, LLC, an evaluation firm in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Within this position, Kirsten worked on several evaluation projects for K-12 education and teacher education programs for Milwaukee Public Schools. Before beginning her graduate studies, Kirsten also worked as a Research Associate for Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah, expanding her skills in survey and interview design and analysis. Her Master’s thesis will focus on tracking evaluation capacity building at Neighborhood House in St. Paul.
Hanife Cakici
MESI Projects: Hennepin County Foster Care Review
Hanife Cakici completed her B.A. in Political Science in Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. She completed her Master of Public Policy at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs on a Fulbright Student Scholarship, focusing on advanced policy analysis and program evaluation. Prior to entering the Humphrey School, she attended the Master of Science program in European Affairs in Lund University in Lund, Sweden on a Swedish Institute Scholarship, where she focused on understanding the impact of European economic policies on emerging economies. Hanife interned at the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities as a program evaluator and auditor in the summer of 2010. She worked at the Lange Research and Evaluation as an evaluation specialist, designing and conducting evaluations of large federal grants for educational programs in Minnesota and Arkansas. She worked at the Improve Group in the summer of 2011, assisting with the evaluation of public health programs in Minnesota.
Hanife is currently pursuing her PhD in Evaluation Studies at the University of Minnesota. She has particular interest in building evaluation capacity of developing nations and assisting in the evaluation of international development programs. She serves as a student representative on the board of directors for Minnesota Evaluation Association. On the personal side, Hanife likes backpacking, biking, camping and fishing. She volunteers for the American Swedish Institute’s cultural events. Contact: 612.483.6052 or cakic002@umn.edu
Carlos Echeverria-Estrada
MESI Projects: COGS Boyton Graduate Student Focus Group
Carlos Echeverria is a second-year master’s student of Public Policy with a minor in Program Evaluation in the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He is a teaching assistant of International Affairs for Microeconomics for Public Planning I and Global Public Policy. After he gradauted with a major in International Relations and Political Science from Universidad Iberoamericana in 2003, Carlos worked as a private consultant and lobbyist in public affairs for five years. In the public sector, he was responsible for the Life-Long Education Office, coordinating its diplomas, seminars and on-distance learning programs, at the Research and Learning Center for Social Sciences, CIDE, in Mexico City.
In 2008, he worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Mexico to collaborate as a communication specialist in an observatory of value chains – automotive, textiles and the franchise sector. He then participated in an evaluation team to assess the Program of Suppliers’ Development (PDP), coordinated by the UNDP and the Ministry of Economy. In addition, he was responsible for launching four manuals on gender equality and legal enforcement across public agencies in three states and throughout the Federal Administration.
In summer of 2011, he conducted a participatory evaluation of a public job-training program in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico as an intern for USAID. Recently, he received an initiation from MESI to participate in an evaluation of graduate students’ health services commissioned by the Council of Graduate Students (COGS). After graduation, Carlos is looking forward to conducting evaluation and monitoring activities for international development programs.
Leah Hakkola
MESI Projects: The Graduate Review and Improvement Process [GRIP]
Leah Hakkola graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Anthropology and American Studies from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN in 2005. Upon graduation she worked for three years as the development specialist and evaluator for the Girls in Action nonprofit. Gaining interest in evaluation and educational policy issues, Leah returned to school earning her Master’s degree in Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota, where she is currently a Ph.D. student in Organizational Leadership, Policy, & Development. She is also pursuing a Ph.D. minor in Program Evaluation. Leah’s scholarly and career goals are driven by a motivation to understand how policy development and reform impact educational access, equity, diversity and evaluation. Leah has a broad range of experience in access and evaluation in higher education working as the administrative fellow for the Access to Success Program and for the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion in her career at the University. In this work, she has collaborated with University administrators and professionals to coordinate the evaluation and improvement of access and diversity initiatives for the purposes of increasing access into the University for multicultural students, as well as supporting these students in equitable and sustainable ways. Currently, Leah is working with Jean King, Rebecca Ropers-Huilman and members of the Graduate School on a pilot project to redesign graduate review and assessment. The Graduate Review and Improvement Process [GRIP] initiative is grounded in developmental evaluation and action research methodologies, with the goal to assist programs in their own initiatives to undertake capacity-building evaluation with methods, criteria and standards that are linked to specific student competencies and outcomes. Contact: hakk0004@umn.edu, Cell: 763.229.9129
Brianna McMichael
MESI Projects: Hennepin County Foster Care Review, North side Community Response Team
Brianna is currently working on her Master’s in Public Health at the University of Minnesota. She is enrolled in the Community Health Education program with a concentration in Public Policy. She grew up in Excelsior, Minnesota and attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon where she earned her B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in Gender Studies. After college she returned to Minnesota and took a job as a youth counselor at Tubman, a domestic violence shelter for women and children. Her interest in evaluation was sparked while facilitating an adolescent support group. She has a passion for working with youth and continues to do so as a youth specialist at the Juvenile Supervision Center for The Link, an agency that provides services to at-risk youth. In addition to working with MESI, Brianna is working with the PRIDE Institute on an evaluation of their sexual health program. Her research interests in program evaluation include healthy youth development, decreasing health disparities, LGBT health and public policy. Contact: mcmic080@umn.edu
Keith Miller
MESI Projects: McKnigh CCRP
For his undergraduate degree Keith Miller attended Bethel University and graduated with a BA in History in 2005. He spent the next five years working for a variety of non-profits including three years with an international NGO in Uganda and Thailand. During his period overseas he helped design and evaluate community based food security and community development projects. In 2010 Keith returned to Minnesota to attend the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Keith is a Master of Public Policy candidate and will earn a concentration in Non-profit Management and Leadership and graduate minors in Sustainable Agriculture Systems and Program Evaluation in 2012. Keith is a MESI Research Assistant working with the McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program and their innovative Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation, and Planning team. His evaluation interests and focus are are always evolving however he has a particular interest in utilization, complex systems, and community based evaluation. Contact info: mill5026@umn.edu
Blaire Molitor
MESI Projects: Minnesota AIDS Project
Blaire graduated from the University of Southern California in 2007 with BAs in Religion and Psychology. In 2008 she became the program coordinator for Artists for a New South Africa, a Los Angeles based non-profit working in the U.S. and South Africa to combat HIV/AIDS, assist children orphaned by the disease, advance human and civil rights, and educate and empower youth. In the fall of 2010, Blaire began the Master of Development Program at the University of Minnesota, a degree providing training in policy analysis and management; health and education; natural sciences; social sciences, and interdisciplinary research methods. She is also pursuing a graduate minor in Program Evaluation. This past summer, as a component of the degree program, Blaire had the opportunity to work with the Society for Nutrition, Education, and Health Action (SNEHA) in Mumbai, India, where she conducted a qualitative assessment of the organization’s work with community volunteers. Currently, she is working on evaluations for The Minnesota AIDS Project, Hope Multipurpose Inc., and Questscope. Contact: molit051@umn.edu
Hans Peterson
MESI Projects: Minnesota AIDS Project
Hans is currently pursuing his M.A. in Organization Leadership and Policy Development at the University of Minnesota. He is in his second year in the Higher Education track in the program and is also completing his minor in Evaluation Studies. After completing his undergraduate degree at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, Hans worked briefly at a healthcare software company in Wisconsin before returning to serve as an Assistant Dean of Admissions at Carleton for four years. This work inspired his passion for working with college students and promoting their development and engagement outside of the classroom. To prepare himself for a long-term career facilitating student growth, Hans enrolled in the M.A. program at the University of Minnesota and is currently working as a Graduate Assistant in the Student Activities Office at the University. In this capacity, he assists some of the 700+ student organizations on campus with event planning and University policies and is the co-advisor of the Gophers After Dark student programming committee. Hans plans to continue working with college students and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. to further explore his research interests in underrepresented student engagement and organizational theory. He is confident his evaluation experiences will serve useful in developing and improving campus programs in the future
Anne Schwalbe
MESI Projects: University of Minnesota College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences
Anne is currently working on her Master’s in Evaluation Studies at the University of Minnesota. She grew up in Corcoran, MN and attended University of Richmond in Virginia where she earned her BA in English and German Literature. Anne was a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Munich, Germany, and worked for NAFSA: Association of International Educators in Washington D.C. before joining Teach For America in 2007. Anne taught 9th Grade Language Arts on Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota for three years. In 2010, Anne returned to Minnesota and taught 8th Grade Language Arts at Crosswinds Arts and Science School in Woodbury. Anne was inspired to pursue evaluation by her 8th and 9th grade students who deserve only high quality, effective, and rigorously evaluated education programs. Anne’s research and evaluation interests are only beginning to develop, but she hopes to pursue educational equity and evaluation capacity building in public and non-profit organizations. Contact: schw1091@umn.edu
Marta Shaw
MESI Projects: COGS Boyton Graduate Student Focus Groups
Marta Shaw is a Ph.D. Candidate in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. Her recent work is focused on evaluation of international development programs, research integrity, intercultural education, and higher education governance. She is currently coordinating a Graduate School project to redesign graduate education review at the University of Minnesota. She is also a Project Fellow with the evaluation team for MasterCard Foundation programs in East Africa. In the last year, Marta has led an evaluation of graduate student health care commissioned by the Council of Graduate Students at the University of Minnesota. Her previous experience includes program design for youth development NGOs and lecturing in applied linguistics at Tischner European University. Marta received her Master’s degree in Philology from the Jagiellonian University in Poland. She has a particular interest in building evaluation capacity of educational institutions in times of transition. Contact: martashaw@umn.edu
Molly Sullivan
MESI Projects: Hennepin County Foster Care Review
Molly Sullivan is currently enrolled in a graduate program in public policy where she combines her passion for improving K-12 education with studies in policy analysis and program evaluation. She hails from New York and throughout her college years at New York University, she was a literacy tutor and classroom assistant in elementary schools throughout Manhattan. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in education, she worked in publishing and for Transportation Alternatives, a non-profit organization that advocates for bicyclists, pedestrians, and mass transit riders. In the course of her graduate program, she has interned at the Minnesota House of Representatives, completed a teacher evaluation system for a network of charter schools in her capacity as an Education Pioneers fellow in Washington, D.C., and worked with the Human Capital Research Collaborative on the Chicago Longitudinal Study. This study focuses on the long-term effects of a high-quality, federally-funded early childhood educational intervention for at-risk children and families in Chicago. Molly’s research interests are early childhood interventions, program evaluation, and policy analysis. Contact: sulli802@umn.edu
Qian (Rubia) Zhao
MESI Prjects: Art-A-Whirl, North East Minneapolis Art Association
Qian (Rubia) Zhao completed her B.A. at the China University of Political Science and Law, in Beijing China, majoring in sociology. She then completed her Master at the Remin University of China, Beijing, China, majoring in social work. She then had been in the doctoral program in School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota from 2009 to 2011 and currently is pursuing her M.A. in Evaluation Studies at the UMN. Prior to entering the UMN, Qian (Rubia) Zhao had worked for UNIAP and Canadian International Develop Agency (CIDA) assisting on the rural women leaders’ capacity building and anti-trafficking program, conducting program implementation and evaluation in 2006 and 2007. She had also work for UNICEF-All China Women’s Federation as a program evaluator, liaisoning on anti-violence against children program in 2008. During her study in UMN, she worked for Center for Advanced Study of Child Welfare, designed and conducted evaluation study on IV-E child welfare scholar retention and turnover program in Minnesota.
Qian (Rubia) Zhao is currently hired as an intern by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education working for the state granted program Get Ready/GEAR UP, targeting with increasing the number of high school graduates from low-income backgrounds that are prepared to enroll and succeed in post-secondary education. She is interested in the inter-discipline between social work and program evaluation, especially on the utilization-focused evaluation. Contact her at: 612.644.7459 (cell) or zhao0284@umn.edu