During the CES Conference in St. John's in June, Brenda Stead received the 2016 Service to the Society Award. Here is the citation, presented by Larry Bremner, Past-President of the CES, as well as Brenda's acceptance speech.

Citation (by Larry Bremner)

It is our great pleasure to present Ms. Brenda Stead with the 2016 Service to the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES) Award, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to our professional organization, and to the broader evaluation and evaluation user community.

Brenda is a Credentialed Evaluator (CE) with over 30 years of experience in education, research and evaluation, training, organizational development, and management in the federal government, and more recently in private consulting. She played many roles with the CES over the years, including both at the Chapter and National levels. She joined the New Brunswick Chapter Board of Directors and was President (2009-14). In these roles she led the Professional Learning Committee and Partnership Initiative, facilitated CES workshops, and co-chaired two Atlantic Canada applied research and evaluation conferences (2010, 2014). She was also an advocate for evaluation both in government, and through her university teaching.

At the national level, she was on the CES Board of Directors (2011-2015) during which she contributed significantly to the Professional Learning Committee. She also played a role in the CES mentorship program, and the development of the CES credentialing program including its requirements and maintenance component.

Internationally, Brenda served as CES national representative to the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE) - (2011-15). As part of this international committee, she consulted with CES members and contributed to the revisions of the JCSEE Classroom Assessment Standards for preK-12 Teachers. Significantly, she co-chaired the CES-JCSEE joint project and negotiated to have 50 pages of the Joint Standards to be translated into French for free in order to have a French document available to evaluators and educators on the JCSEE Program Evaluation Standards.This reference document is now available to CES, JCSEE, and international affiliated member organizations.

Her international contributions have also extended to the American Evaluation Association (AEA), where Brenda engaged in the formation of the new Targeted Interest Group on Program Design, and is a present co-chair.

Please join me in congratulating Brenda Stead on her award.

Acceptance Speech

On Sunday, I went shopping with Bea (Courtney) for door prizes for the conference hospitality suite. From an artisan who makes some unique and quality crafts, I purchased three 'shot glasses' with Newfoundland expressions written on them. They might well describe my initial reaction when Benoît Gauthier (our CES President) phoned me to say that I was to be the recipient of this award. As I hold them up to you, they say: "Wha?" (Meaning: Really?), "Gentle Jeezes!" (Meaning: I'm shocked, and thinking there are other colleagues who deserve this more than I!), and "Grand!" (Meaning: That is really, really 'lovely').

On a more serious note, I am truly honoured, moved, and humbled to receive this recognition.

Thank you/Merci to the Canadian Evaluation Society. Thank you so very much to my wonderful colleagues who had a hand in putting the nomination forward, and to those who supported it.

I am very proud to be part of the CES ‘family' and to have worked with such dedicated professionals on the chapter and the national board, committees, and initiatives. I also enjoyed working with my international colleagues on the JCSEE and the AEA Targeted Interest Groups (TIGs) - including the relatively new Program Design TIG which a few of us keenly started-up a couple of years ago with John Gargani, who is with us today in his role as President of AEA.

I encourage students and new comers to evaluation to get actively involved with CES chapters, and to spread the word about CES. It is a great professional organization and leader in evaluation.

In closing, consider that the logo of the conference is a beautiful blue iceberg in open waters, and the theme is Evaluation on the Edge – about reflecting, building, re-thinking, and perspectives. I leave you with the following quote: "I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving – we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor." Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Thank you very much for this honour!