Utilization-Focused Evaluation (Program Evaluation)

Abstract

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe lessons I have learned and the gratitude I owe can be expressed in terms of four emergent themes: strength within, just push the button, the importance of the collective mind, and love and acceptance. Together these themes inform my understanding of the Japense word kansha, a term for what it means to have deep gratitude for the role other people play in one's life.Strength within. The personification of strength within is my husband, Tom. He has been the guiding force behind this entire endeavor and the ultimate role model for living a tenacious, exhilarating life. For everything I didn't think I could do, he had five or more reasons why I could. His insistence that I was more that I thought I was, made it so. Tom, thank you for making every day of my life wonderful and for ensuring that this program of study came to fruition. The dissertation is as much yours as it is mine.Just push the button. A second significant theme is embodied by the words "just push the button" (M. Smith, multiple personal communications) and their analogues "just inspiring not only this study but a vision for the future of our profession, for standing by me, and for ensuring that I value learning more than being right. Dr. Jeanette Westfall, thank you for refusing to leave me behind, for all of the knowledge creation we managed on our marathon rides back and forth to MU, for constantly helping me frame and reframe all of the "opportunities" that have come along these past few years, and for your steadfast friendship. Mel and JW-I owe you both a debt of gratitude beyond measure.