LEEAD Advisory Team Workgroup
Arthur Hernandez • Professor, University of the Incarnate Word
Dr. Hernandez is a Nationally Certified school psychologist and counselor, a diplomate of the American Board of Psychological Specialties and a licensed psychologist and licensed specialist in school psychology. He served as a member and chair of the Texas Board of Examiners of Psychologists and as a member of the Texas Diabetes Council. He currently serves on the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation. His work has contributed to psycho-educational and public health interventions and effectiveness focusing on the theory and practice of Culturally Responsive and Equitable Evaluation (CREE) across a variety of settings. His research and scholarly contributions may be found in multiple venues covering topics ranging from teacher education to Type 2 Diabetes in children. Dr. Hernández has and continues to contribute to funded research, service, and teaching projects as principal investigator, co-Investigator, evaluator or consultant. In addition, he currently serves as director of the Minority Serving Institutions Fellowship Program of the American Evaluation Association and on the Advisory Board for the Expanding the Bench® (ETB) Initiative, which focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion in evaluation.
Chandria Jones • Principal Research Scientist at NORC at the University of Chicago
Dr. Chandria D. Jones is a principal research scientist at NORC at the University of Chicago with over 18 years of experience leading public health research studies and evaluations for the federal government and foundations in the areas of behavioral health, health equity, and health communications. With an emphasis on culturally responsive and equitable evaluation and research, she leads equity-focused projects that leverage community engagement and participatory methods. Her research examines social and environmental determinants of health for historically disadvantaged populations such as people from racial and ethnic minority groups, youth and families with lower incomes, and persons with mental health and substance use disorders. Dr. Jones’ work has a strong racial equity and systems change focus emphasizing the need to understand the complex social, cultural, and historical factors necessary to transform policies and practices. Dr. Jones earned her PhD in behavioral and community health from the University of Maryland, College Park, and MPH from Florida International University.
Kate Szczerbacki JD, PhD • Director of Strategic Learning and Evaluation, The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
Kate Szczerbacki leads the learning and evaluation unit at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving – a community foundation serving 29 towns in North Central Connecticut. In this role, she oversees evaluation and applied research projects to help the Foundation, its partners, and the community learn about the effectiveness of its investments and the needs of the region. She also collaborates with the Foundation’s grantmaking teams to develop and monitor strategic investments and contributes to the health of the regional data and evaluation ecosystem (e.g. community/regional surveys and assessments, data sharing and integration, equitable data use). Before coming to the Foundation, she worked as a program evaluator mostly in K-12 and youth contexts with projects commissioned by state government, regional education foundations, early childhood centers, and public school districts.
Katrina L. Bledsoe, PhD • Senior Evaluation Consultant and Research Scientist, Education Development Center, Inc.
Katrina L. Bledsoe, PhD, is an evaluation, and organizational consultant and strategist with 25 years of experience at the local, state, and federal government levels, and with philanthropic organizations such as The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Nellie Mae Education Fund. She is currently a senior evaluation specialist and research scientist at Boston-based Education Development Center (EDC), Her expertise is in organizational learning and evaluation, strategic planning, mixed methods, applied social psychology, and cultural contexts. Dr. Bledsoe has served as principal investigator, co-principal investigator, or project director, on a variety of projects and initiatives, and has received grants and contracts for programs in STEM education, mental health, economic development, school-based health, K-12 and higher education and international development.
Leah C. Neubauer • Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
Leah C. Neubauer, EdD, MA, is an assistant professor of preventive medicine in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. Her primary area of scholarship is curriculum development and training in the population health and health/evaluation-related professions. She received the 2020 Early Career Public Health Teaching Award from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) for her accomplishments in teaching, research, educational leadership and mentorship. She leads collaborations with a variety of teaching and learning partners across the globe. She has served on the founding LEAAD advisory board and as a mentor in the LEAAD program. She came into higher education through pathway programming for first-generation, low-income (FGLI) college students. She is a proud alum of the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, RWJF New Connections Program and member of the Latina Researcher Network (LRN). She aims to bring person-centered, responsive, culturally-relevant, and practical insights to mentoring and coaching. She serves as co-facilitator of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) Local Affiliate Collaborative (LAC) and as an accreditation Site Visit Chair with the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, PhD, MPH, CHES • President and Founder, Amaka Consulting and Evaluation Services, LLC
Dr. Amutah-Onukagha has over 15 years of experience conducting health disparities work, with specialties in program development and evaluation, and mixed methods research. Her contributions have included projects focused on maternal mortality and morbidity, health equity, HIV/AIDS, adolescent health, and maternal and child health. Her skills and focus include needs assessment, survey development, interview administration, focus group facilitation, and program implementation and evaluation. Dr. Amutah-Onukagha is the President and Founder of Amaka Consulting and Evaluation Services, LLC (ACES), a minority and woman-owned public health research and evaluation firm. Providing leadership for a team of 25, she provides strategic oversight and leadership for her team. In this capacity, ACES has had the pleasure of having a number of Federal, State, non-profit and local agencies as clients.
Rebekah Levin • Independent Evaluator
Rebekah Levin lives in the Chicago area and has worked as an evaluator for the past 40 years.
Tamarah Moss • Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College
Tamarah Moss, PhD, MPH, MSW is an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College. Time as a LEAAD Scholar (2019-2020), was invaluable to her professional development as an evaluator and evaluation educator. The experience to be paired with her LEEAD mentor Dr. Donna M. Mertens, her practicum site at IMPAQ International, and camaraderie of her fellow cohort members was exceptional. As a community-engaged scholar, she continues to be focused on community-centered research and teaching in the areas of trauma-informed culturally responsive evaluation, health and mental health service delivery for marginalized communities, community-college partnerships, and pedagogy. Tamarah believes in the power of collaboration and the opportunity to serve as a thought partner with the Expanding the Bench TM (ETB) Advisory Team, especially related to supporting curriculum development and pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning, for future LEAAD scholars. She has served in leadership roles with the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and most recently with the Social Work Topic Interest Group. Dr. Moss is also alum of the AEA Minority Serving Institutions Fellowship program, under the direction and mentorship of Dr. Art Hernandez, during her time on faculty at Howard University School of Social Work.
Tanisha T. Woodson, PhD • Evaluation Project Director and Research Scientist, NPC Research
Dr. Tanisha Tate Woodson is a principal investigator and evaluation director at NPC Research in Portland, Oregon. Tanisha has more than 13 years of experience developing, implementing, and managing collaborative projects on a variety of social welfare research topics, including early childhood education, public health, housing, and community development. Over the course of her research career, she has used a variety of research methods and approaches and incorporated a community-based participatory research and equity evaluation lens for studying the most vulnerable populations. Tanisha currently serves as the project director for House Bill 2016 Oregon Department of Education African American/Black Student Success Plan. In this role, she leads a collaborative evaluation process working closely with Oregon Development of Education and key stakeholders to prioritize evaluation questions, approach and interpretation of data to lift up strategies that are most beneficial for Black and African American students across the state. Tanisha has authored peer-reviewed articles, presented her research at national conferences, and taught college courses in research methods, program evaluation, and community-based research approaches. She holds a BS in Biology and MPH in Health Management and Policy from the University of Michigan, and her doctorate in Social Welfare from Case Western Reserve University. Tanisha is a current equity fellow in the ETB LEEAD Program where she further develops the technical expertise in facilitating CREE projects.
Previous Workgroup Members
Noé Rubén Chávez, PhD
Assistant Professor,
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
Tamara Bertrand Jones, PhD
Associate Professor,
Florida State University
Jasmine Haywood, PhD
Strategy Officer, Lumina Foundation
Meet More Advisory Team Members
Expanding the Bench® (ETB) is part of a collaborative field-building movement and is informed by a diverse, multi-stakeholder team of thought partners from the evaluation ecosystem. This team offers strategic direction, feedback, and recommendations to guide the development and growth of ETB.
With decades of combined experience in their fields, ETB Advisory Team members help us better understand and address the needs of the broader community.