Jennifer Jewiss, Ed.D.
Title	Research Assistant Professor
Contact Info	UVM Department of Education 499 Waterman Building Burlington, Vermont 05405 Phone: (802) 656-2711 Email: Jennifer.Jewiss@uvm.edu
Education	2002 Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Vermont 1998 M.Ed. Educational Leadership, University of Vermont 1989 B.A. Psychology, University of Vermont
Professional Biography	My research and teaching interests have been informed and inspired by many years of “roll-up-your-sleeves” involvement in the leadership of nonprofit organizations. From 1991 through the spring of 2005, I served on the Board of Directors for the Humane Society of Chittenden County: the place “where best friends meet.” During my time on the Board, I held numerous leadership positions including Board President and Co-chair of our $2,000,000 Capital Campaign to construct a new facility for the organization. I have always been fascinated by the intersection between education (broadly defined) and communications. Prior to my entrée into research and evaluation, I worked in the field of educational video for children and adolescents – researching the content and writing scripts for videos that offer practical information on health and social issues from a youth perspective. In essence, my task was to work with kids to translate research and best practices into educational videos. During the process of developing a video to provide a “kids-eye-view” of the Search Institute’s developmental assets, I became interested in strength-based approaches. Other videos provided real-world strategies for dealing with sexual harassment, resisting recruitment efforts from suburban gangs, and resolving conflicts with peers and adults. In 2002, I joined the faculty of the Department of Education as a Research Assistant Professor. Most of my time is devoted to conducting – or serving as an advisor to those conducting – program evaluations of various human service, education, and health initiatives. I specialize in qualitative, participatory, and formative approaches to research and evaluation. I am passionate about many things, including: · qualitative research · program evaluation · communicating research and evaluation findings in ways that encourage action · organizational learning, and · strength-based approaches to working with individuals, organizations, and systems. The challenge of working with new and innovative programs, which often come in the form of community-based collaborations, is a task that I find particularly intriguing. Each fall, I enjoy teaching a graduate course on program evaluation that introduces students to the field and guides them through the process of developing an evaluation plan for a program with which they work. I am an enthusiastic member of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), an organization that has afforded me the opportunity to interact with and learn from many of the leading methodologists in the fields of qualitative research and evaluation. I am a regular presenter at AEA’s national conferences and review conference proposals for AEA’s Qualitative Methods and Teaching of Evaluation Topical Interest Groups. I also review book proposals on research and evaluation methods for Jossey-Bass. For the past few years, I have served as a member of the national advisory panel for the Place-based Education Evaluation Collaborative. In 2005, I was an invited participant in an international effort to field-test a new framework for evaluating leadership development programs, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Population Leadership Program, and the Public Health Institute. For the past seven years, I have served as a Design Team Member for the Vermont Research Partnership among UVM, Vermont Department of Education, Vermont Agency of Human Services, and Vermont Association of Regional Partnerships. The Research Partnership informs policymaking and develops an integrated research agenda to advance the health and well-being of Vermont’s children, individuals, and families.
Research Interests and Current Projects	2004- present Qualitative research and evaluation of various quality improvement projects Vermont Child Health Improvement Program, UVM College of Medicine 2003-present Evaluation of the “Wellness on Wheels” Mobile Outreach Project in Central Vermont, funded by the U.S. Office of Rural Health Policy 2000-present Evaluation of the Vermont Humanities Council’s community-based literacy initiatives which have spanned 14 communities to-date 2000-present Evaluation of the statewide Youth Initiated Grants Project, administered by the Vermont Agency of Human Services and supported by the federal Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities funding 1998-1999 Qualitative research on the development of Vermont’s Regional Partnerships, commissioned by the Vermont Research Partnership
Courses Taught	EDLP 264: Evaluation in Education and Human Services
Selected Publications	Gajda, R., & Jewiss, J. (2004). Thinking about how to evaluate your program? These strategies will get you started. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 9(8).  http://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=9&n=8 Jewiss, J., & Hasazi, S. (1999). Advancing Community Well-being: A Developmental Perspective of Two Community Partnerships in Vermont. Burlington, Vermont: University of Vermont, Vermont Agency of Human Services, and Vermont Department of Education. Report submitted to Vermont Agency of Human Services, the Vermont Legislature, and The Annie E. Casey Foundation