Committees & SIGs

Professional Development Committee

This committee focuses on bringing new evaluators into the field and to support and stimulate the development of practicing evaluators.  The committee promotes continuing learning and sharing among evaluators.  The new Evaluator’s Group is part of this committee.

Kate Julian, PhD currently works as a Senior Evaluator for The Evaluation Group.  She earned her doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Illinois – Chicago where she focused on issues of educational measurement and assessment.  Kate has worked in K-12 education for the past sixteen years in various capacities including teacher, policy analyst, and evaluator.  She is currently working on evaluations of Smaller Learning Communities and 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs in school systems throughout the state of Georgia.

Maureen Wilce

New Evaluators Committee

Primary goal/purpose: New Evaluator is for students and others new to the field of evaluation. The group organizes events to expose participants to assorted evaluation career paths, provide basic training in evaluation.

Sarah O’Leary, MPH, MSW is a Public Health Prevention Specialist at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Sarah has a Masters in Public Health and a Masters in Social Work, and has worked in healthcare and school settings prior to joining the CDC. She is currently working in the Division of Adult and Community Health, Healthy Aging Program. She is a relatively new evaluator. Her experiences have included evaluation of a community based suicide intervention program and providing technical assistance to state TB programs in the development of their evaluation plans.Charlotte D. Stout, MS recently joined the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Division of STD Prevention, Health Services Research and Evaluation Branch for her second rotation with the Public Health Prevention Service (PHPS) program. Charlotte’s first rotation was with the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT), Epidemiology and Statistics Branch. Charlotte grew up in the Mississippi Delta and attended the University of Arkansas; B.S. and Tennessee State University; M.S. During her undergraduate matriculation, she participated in two summer programs held at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. As part of a co-op program, she worked at the National Center for Toxicological Research in the Microbiology Division, and was part of an ecological research team that studied the fungal metabolism and detoxification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). After graduation, she participated in a summer Biomedical Research Program at Meharry Medical College. Her research focused on the effects of estradiol on normal breast epithelial cells. She also worked at the National Institutes of Health-National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Charlotte sought experiences that would bolster students who have an interest in science/public health. She was also an educator with the Harrisburg School District in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Austin Independent School District in Austin, Texas, respectively. She enjoys reading, traveling, working with youth, and spending time with her family. Charlotte is an Atlanta Falcon’s fan.

Membership Committee

This committee promotes membership in AaEA and links members to opportunities for involvement in AaEA committees and leadership positions. Major tasks include targeted membership drives, creation of promotional literature, and managing the membership database.

Carlos Pavao, MPA joined the DeKalb County Board of Health in 2007 as the Community Administrator. In this present capacity, Mr. Pavão develops strategies to reduce health disparities and is responsible for Board of Health marketing and public relations. Mr. Pavão has over thirteen years in the nonprofit, educational, and governmental fields. His expertise is in developing public/private partnerships, policy development, legislative advocacy, evaluation/program analysis, governmental relations, and public health systems building with a particular interest in underserved and immigrant populations. Mr. Pavão has also worked extensively at the local and state levels on a variety public health prevention efforts - HIV and substance abuse prevention, tobacco control, adolescent health, workforce development (especially immigrant populations), early childhood education reform, healthy school initiatives, and cardiovascular health and nutrition education. His professional interests include – evaluating innovative community partnerships, immigrant health and lgbt health issues. Mr. Pavão has an M.P.A. with a concentration in nonprofit management from the Bridgewater State College and a B.A. in anthropology and history with a concentration in non-western cultures from Brandeis University.

Amee Bhalakia

Communication Committee

This committee is focused on internal and external communications among evaluators in the Atlanta area and beyond, including the website, listserv, newsletter, marketing materials, and e-mail exchanges

Karen E. Kun, MPH, MA currently serves as a Public Health Advisor (through Total Solutions) with the Sustainable Management Development Program, Division of Global Public Health Capacity Development, Coordinating Office for Global Health, CDC. Her prior experience includes serving as the executive director of a community-based organization devoted to building individual and community capacity in primary and secondary HIV prevention; facilitating global scientific capacity at the NIH, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, where she collaborated with WHO, Ministries of Health, and the US Dept. of State; and collaborating to enhance the capacity of Emory University students involved in global research and community engagement. Ms. Kun’s skill sets include developing and managing partnerships (global, federal/state and community-based); public health program assessment, development and implementation; evaluation; focus group facilitation and analysis; strategic planning; and the conduct of situational research and analysis to inform policy and programs.  She has additionally authored and co-authored articles in publications including the International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, International Family Planning Perspectives, and Public Health Reports.

Mesfin Mulatu

Finance Committee

This committee oversees the financial affairs and solvency of the association, as well as the structural issues for the AaEA such as by-laws, related to the legal/tax-exempt status of the organization. It develops the budget, monitors the financial position of the organization, and prepares the financial reports. This committee also helps with registration at the quarterly events, and identifies ideas to generate additional revenue for AaEA.

Judy Gibson, MSN, RN is the nurse consultant in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She has more than 30 years experience in public health nursing, with 27 years experience in the field of TB Prevention and Control. She joined the CDC in 1991 after 12 years as TB program manager in Dallas County Health Department, Dallas, Texas. Her interest in evaluation stems from the need to articulate the public health nursing role in implementation and support of public health and CDC-funded TB programs by promoting development of an evidence base for public health nursing practice. She serves AaEA as co-chair of the Finance Committee.

International Evaluation SIG

The Special Interest Group on International Evaluation is for evaluators who are either currently working in the international arena or those who have interests in this field. This group provides a venue for the discussion of various issues related to the conduct of evaluation. These may include the use of established evaluation frameworks and their applicability in developing country contexts, evaluation frameworks, methodologies and perspectives used by different international organizations, the issues of culture that have relevance for measurement and evaluation, and other matters of interest in this area.

Bina Jayapaul-Philip, Ph.D. works as a Program Evaluation Specialist with Constella Group, LLC. She provides guidance and technical assistance on evaluation components of programs and initiatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as State Health Departments. Dr. Jayapaul-Philip has several years of work experience with Division of Public Health in Georgia working closely with the Planning and Evaluation Team to serve programs across the state. Her doctoral thesis is on infant and child mortality in rural India and has worked on evaluations of rural and urban development projects in India. She coordinates the newly formed Special Interest Group on Internationally focused evaluation.

Community-Based Evaluation Capacity SIG

This special interest group is for members who are interested in helping build the capacity of the non-profit and community based organization in Atlanta. Members strategize ways to promote evaluation practices and building evaluation capacity by partnering with local foundations.

Sal Alaimo, MS, CVA is a PhD student in Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University, Indianapolis and is also an adjunct professor at the university’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. His research interests include nonprofit management, volunteerism, performance measurement, and his current dissertation work examines evaluation capacity building with nonprofit, human service organizations.

Mr. Alaimo has ten years experience working for nonprofit organizations including five years as an internal evaluator with the Girl Scouts. He also has developed and taught a graduate course in volunteer management at Georgia State University. Other work experience includes eight years consulting for nonprofits in the areas of evaluation, strategic planning, volunteer management and board development with clients that include the University of Georgia, National Benevolent Association, Jerusalem House and Georgia Career Development Association. He is certified in volunteer administration (CVA) from the Association for Volunteer Administration and he received his Master’s Degree in Urban Studies/Nonprofit Management from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. Mr. Alaimo enjoys hiking, travel, history and is a resident of Decatur, Georgia.