Greetings for the New Year from CES. Your National Board and Chapters have been busy organizing annual meetings and professional development events. Work on the CES e-Institute has continued. And the Alberta and NWT Chapter is immersed in the organization of the Annual conference coming up in Calgary at the end of May.

I participated in the American Evaluation Association annual meetings in Washington this fall and saw a number of you there. I am always amazed at the size and diversity of the AEA meetings, and was able to participate in several sessions. We at CES continue to be sought out as speakers on the professionalization of evaluation. Our experience with the development, implementation and evaluation of the Credentialed Evaluator (CE) program is of considerable interest to evaluation associations around the world. In my view, there is a move taking place around the world to the adoption of domains of knowledge and skills linked to good evaluation work.

In addition, we used our time in Washington to meet with Canadians working in Washington with the Canadian Embassy and other multilateral international organizations.  The meeting was an attempt to ensure that Canadian organizations are well represented in international contracting.  A number of Canadian consulting companies with international interests joined us in the meeting at the Canadian Embassy.

My work in supporting evaluation in Canada included working with the national Communications and Marketing Committee in the development of an an outreach program to Canadian institutions that we want to remain active in the Canadian Evaluation Society. Libraries and universities are examples of organizations we hope will remain active in CES and for whom we are reaching out to promote evaluation resources (competencies, standards) and events, and of course inviting membership. At the level of Universities in Canada we are striving to have faculty teaching evaluation and students in their courses become members of CES.

I hope that like me, all of you were following the announcements associated with the Annual Conference. The call for presentations and workshops at the conference was well received and the scientific review committee is in the process of reviewing and selecting presentations to be included from the 240 that were submitted. Stay tuned for more details on the program in Calgary and the one day on-the-land event in Yellowknife following Calgary.

In addition we have approved Nova Scotia as the host chapter for 2019 and Ottawa and the National Capital Chapter as the host for the 2020 conference.

It has been a time of change at CES with new representatives on the National Board from a number of chapters and new committee membership and chairs being established. New representatives came on Board over the past few months and are welcomed from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta-Northwest Territories, BC and Yukon; with new arrivals from New Brunswick and Ontario.  A list of Board representatives can be found here:  https://evaluationcanada.ca/board-and-secretariat

The Governance and Process Committee has been busy looking at and updating the Organization chart for CES. This was started at our Winnipeg meeting with a goal to clarify relationships and reporting responsibilities between the Board and executive, standing committees, major programs (PDP and CES e-Institute), the CES Secretariat and the Executive Director.   The new national Chair of Professional Learning Committee, Ms. Doaa Saddek (CES-NCC) held a cross-Canada update call with Chapter professional development leads, and awaits feedback on a draft Learning Strategy for CES later this month.

Within the CES e-Institute, under the direction of Marla Steinberg we have proceeded to identify an instructional design expert to join the team to ensure that the on-line material and learning experience are of the highest possible quality. In addition, plans for the development of new courses are being made.  Marla is coordinating Chapter pilots between January and June so that all parts of CES become familiar with the platform and begin imagining possibilities for enhanced blended learning.

We have also been busy working with the CES Secretariat to improve service to members. This includes smoothing out the membership renewal process, supporting webinars and chapter meetings through a number of on-line platforms, tightening up reporting and the administration and management of the Credentialed Evaluator program.

The Board has been busy working on reciprocal relationships with a number of other national organizations which are involved in evaluation. This is designed to give CES members access to the benefits of participation in other societies at a reduced cost. Over the next few months, the Past President and Executive Director will explore partnerships with like-purposed Canadian not-for-profit organizations; if you have any suggestions please let Benoît know at [email protected].

Have a happy and prosperous year in evaluation,

Harry Cummings
President
Canadian Evaluation Society