SGEA's History
In January 2007, the Emory Prevention Research Center, in partnership with the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition, convened an evaluation professional interest group to explore the evaluation needs and determine goals and strategies for building evaluation capacity in the region.
Made up of individuals from local community service organizations, healthcare systems, public health divisions, colleges and universities, the group considered various options for meeting the networking, resources, information and professional development needs of evaluators and others interested in strengthening their evaluation skills.
The meetings resulted in the formation of The SGEA. Volunteer officers were elected, who drafted the organization's bylaws and petitioned the American Evaluation Association for affiliate status, which was granted in November, 2007.
The SGEA benefitted greatly from the guidance of Iris Smith, PhD, co-director of Evaluation for the Emory Prevention Research Center (EPRC). The EPRC is a CDC-funded research program that is conducting a cancer prevention study in Southwest Georgia, in cooperation with the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition. In addition to its research activities, the EPRC offers training, capacity-building and technical assistance to professionals involved in program planning and evaluation.