CHS Professor Appointed to Texas Evaluation Network Board
Dr. Thenral Mangadu, associate professor of Public Health Sciences and director of UTEP’s Minority AIDS Research Center (MARC), has recently been appointed to the 2020 board of the Texas Evaluation Network (TEN) along with two other researchers from Texas as new board members.
TEN is a statewide organization, an affiliate of AEA, dedicated to promoting best practices in the field of evaluation, strengthening evaluation capacity, and providing professional/career development opportunities for individuals engaged in evaluation.
As one of TEN’s eight board members, Mangadu will be engaged in promoting the guiding principles of program evaluation, capacity building for professional development across the State, and building a collaborative environment for meaningful program evaluation.
“One way in which TEN promotes professional development is through its institutes,” Mangadu explained. “Board members will be actively engaged in the 2020 institute to provide professional development trainings.”
Mangadu’s experience in program evaluation and implementation in minority communities for over two decades, particularly in utilizing interdisciplinary community engaged program design and professional development, will contribute to advancing TEN mission and goals.
“Our region will also have an opportunity to draw upon TEN’s statewide and national evaluation related expertise, professional development and resources,” Mangadu added.
Although the role of evaluation in program management, along with sharing program data for networking purposes and in applications for extramural funding, is acknowledged as critical, Mangadu stated that there is currently a dearth of rigorous and meaningful program evaluation in many community and organizational settings.
“Given the intersecting drivers of disparities and, the increasingly limited resources/funding to address the same, it is vital that assessment and evaluation expands on rigor in design, adaptability to situational factors, community engagement and, meaningful documentation that can help sustain resources while advancing policy,” she said.
Go Miners!
