Connect. Learn. Community.
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Join us for MNEA’s 2025 statewide conference, Evaluation (Un)Filtered: An (Un)Conference for Unprecedented Times. We know many of our friends, colleagues and professional partners in the field have been impacted by the changes that have been happening at the federal level. Jobs have been lost. Data has been erased. What is clear is that our relationships and connections to one another matter in these times. We see the opportunity for the evaluation field to come together to have the conversations that we, as a membership community, need to have now in order to understand where we are heading next.
This UnConference is a place for all voices to be lifted up, a space and time to connect, coming together to learn and grow in the service of what this present moment requires from us as we explore what this means for the uncertain present and future for our field. Elders have said, “we are the ones we have been waiting for,” and as a field of evaluation here in Minnesota and beyond - we invite you to participate in engaging in the conversations we need to have now in order to find our next steps as we move forward.
Doors open at 8:30am, program starts at 9:00am and we wrap up by 4:30pm!
If you need any accommodations to participate or have questions, please email info@mneval.org. We are looking forward to seeing you!
Thank you to our sponsors!
MOVEMENT BUILDING
PARTNER
SUPPORTER
A profession’s philosophy is the framework of ethics, values, norms, and beliefs that undergird its practitioners’ work, embodying what the community of practice holds sacred and influencing how they engage in practice.
The philosophy enshrined in AEA doctrine emphasizes utility, rigor, honesty, diversity, and continuous improvement, reflecting a commitment to high-quality, ethically defensible, and culturally responsive evaluation practice across multiple domains.
In this Community of Practice session, Doris Espelien will present findings from her dissertation research into the professional identity of American evaluators, which will be followed by discussion of attendees’ philosophies and how they show up in practice.
Finally, attendees will discuss how they are negotiating this very weird world in which the desire to provide comprehensive, context-situated data is at risk of being interpreted as biased and where clients are prohibited from using terms and phrases that are ubiquitous in this field.
We look forward to seeing you!
Doris Espelien is a freshly hatched PhD from the University of Minnesota's Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development program in the Evaluation Studies track. She is an applied researcher and evaluator working in a variety of sectors for RAND Corporation and for her own consultancy, Bricolage Consulting. She is fueled by annoyance and guided by pragmatism and equity, which is why she studied the professional identity of American evaluators.
Cost of the event: Free for members, $5 for non-members
If you need any accommodations to participate, please let us know at least one week prior to the event. Thank you.
The MNEA CoP meeting structure is designed to be flexible in order to meet attendee needs and busy schedules. Attend sessions if you want to connect regularly or just want to pop in here and there. All are welcome!
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Minnesota Evaluation Association
P.O. Box 581114,
Minneapolis, MN 55458
Email: info@mneval.org
Affiliate of American Evaluation Association since 2004
MNEA is a 501(c)6 organization
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