Plenary Sessions

The 2025 Plenary sessions will feature in-depth presentations that focus on this year’s theme: Engaging Community, Sharing Leadership

Wednesday, November 12

Bridging Evaluation and Foresight for Transformative Practice

2:30 - 4:00 p.m.

More details to come!

Moderator: Tom Kelly, Principal, KEL Advising

Panelists:

  • Thomas Achibald, Ph.D., Executive Director; Center for International Research, Education, and Development; Virginia Tech
  • Genowefa Blunda, Researcher in Impact Evaluation; CIRAD - Alliance Bioversity CIAT
  • Jess Dart, Ph.D., CEO; Clear Horizon
  • Rick Davies, Ph.D., Evaluation Consultant
  • Annette Gardner, Ph.D., Principal, ALGardner Consulting
  • Sarah Mason, Ph.D., Director, Center for Research Evaluation; The University of Mississippi
  • Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead, Ph.D, Director of Online Programs, Research Methods, Measurement, and Evaluation; University of Connecticut
  • Rose Thompson Coon, Senior Lead, Impact & Evaluation, Finnish Innovation Fund; Sitra
  • Liz Ruedy, Democracy Fund

Thursday, November 13

The Rise

8:30 - 10:00 a.m.

More details to come!

Panelist:

  • Sarah Lewis, Ph.D.

Friday, November 14

Cultivating Curiosity: Collective Reflection and Leading the Future of Evaluation

3:15 - 4:45 p.m.

As Evaluation 2025 draws to a close, we gather to reflect on what we've learned, where we've grown, and how we will carry the theme of Engaging Communities, Sharing Leadership forward. This is not just a panel—it is a pause, a practice, an honoring, and a provocation.

Drawing on traditions of metaevaluation, liberatory praxis, and oral history, four powerful voices in our field—Libby Smith, Tiffany Tovey, Angelicque Tucker Blackmon, and Ayesha Boyce—will explore how evaluators can co-create meaning with communities, interrogate systems of oppression, and reflect on our own assumptions and practices.

Together, we will turn the mirror inward, exploring critical questions: How do we honor legacy and accountability while moving toward transformative, community-anchored practice? What does it mean to "evaluate ourselves" as a field? Panelists will reflect on their conference experiences and offer insights into how we—as individuals and as a field—might walk differently into the future.

You are invited to show up not just as a practitioner, but as a learner, a listener, a co-creator of what comes next.

Panelists:

  • Angelique Tucker Blackmon, Ph.D., CEO; Innovative Learning Center, LLC
  • Ayesha Boyce, Ph.D., Associate Director and Associate Professor; Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation; Arizona State University
  • Libby Smith, Circle Keeper, Coach, Educator, & Facilitator; Culture of Gathering LLC
  • Tiffany Lee Smith Tovey, Ph.D., Director, Office of Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Services; UNC Greensboro