September 2008

$1.6 Million Gift-In-Kind Establishes Midge Smith Center for Evaluation Effectiveness

A new GW center will be the world’s first to provide training and education of evaluation effectiveness in the public and nonprofit sectors, due to a
$1.6 million in-kind donation plus future sustaining funds from M. F. “Midge” Smith.

Part of the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, the Midge Smith Center for Evaluation Effectiveness creates and facilitates the use of evaluation knowledge and best practices to enhance program performance in the public and nonprofit sectors. The center also will house The Evaluators’ Institute (TEI), an internationally recognized organization founded in 1995 by Smith with leaders in the profession of program evaluation.

“The new center will continue to build on the excellence of TEI’s programs and is meant to enhance our ability to meet longer-term interests in research, education, and outreach,” says Smith, who has been named GW research professor of public policy and public administration and associate director of the center. “The goal of the center is to be the premier unit in the world known for its successes in creating and facilitating use of evaluation knowledge to further effective programs in the public and nonprofit areas.”

Smith has been a leader in the field of program evaluation for nearly 30 years, partnering with GW faculty for the past decade to provide teaching support for TEI. She has authored and co-authored more than 100 publications and reports on evaluation and planning, served on many national committees, and received numerous awards, including the American Evaluation Association’s Robert Ingle Service Award.

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