Landscape Collage: Crafting a Picture of the Evaluation Microsystem in the U.S.South

This interactive panel session brings together Expanding the Bench® (ETB), Gulf Coast Evaluator Network (GCEval), and Texas Evaluation Network (TEN) to explore innovative, participatory, and community-driven strategies for evaluation ecosystem mapping and building across the U.S. South — a region traditionally underrepresented and often marginalized in mainstream evaluation discourse. Panelists will share findings from recent landscape analyses and network mapping in Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, highlighting approaches that center local knowledge and expertise, build intentional community relationships, and challenge dominant institutional narratives in evaluation. The session emphasizes the importance and implications of informal and inclusive leadership in developing and sustaining these regional evaluation microsystems. Participants will engage directly in dialogue, reflecting on how evaluators can recognize and sustain essential yet overlooked contributions to evaluation practice. This session serves as an invitation to move beyond theory, collectively shaping a more equitable, interconnected evaluation field.
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