Testimonials

Since 2019, Dr. Lisa Kaczmarczyk has served as the external evaluator for our multi-year, interdisciplinary National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) project in smart cities and smart living. From the beginning, Dr. Kaczmarczyk demonstrated excellent proficiency in various aspects of evaluation and assessment, including taking time to read and understand the grant proposal, guiding us in the creation of the logic model, advising on data collection and analysis, and keeping the stated goals and project outcomes at the forefront. During the active years of our training grant, Dr. Kaczmarczyk’s activities centered upon the closed focus group sessions between herself and the NRT graduate students (“trainees”) during our Annual Retreat. In the sessions, trainees provide candid feedback to Dr. Kaczmarczyk on key points of the training program, including (but not limited to): courses, workshops, requirements and expectations, relationship-building, and trainee experiences and challenges. Dr. Kaczmarczyk then shared her findings with NRT leadership along with her recommendations (which are subsequently shared with the Independent Advisory Board and internal Evaluations and Outcomes Committee). She then incorporates her findings into her own annual report, which examines the project’s performance overall. Dr. Kaczmarczyk also attends (or watches the recording of) the bi-annual meetings with the Independent Advisory Board. Her activities/findings have been instrumental in informing and improving the training project each year. I highly recommend Dr. Kaczmarczyk and look forward to opportunities to work with her again.

We have engaged the services of Dr. Kaczmarczyk to assist us in the design, development, and widespread implementation of evaluation plans for our federally funded, multi-year computer science education project. Over the course of the past five years, Dr. Kaczmarczyk has demonstrated valuable expertise in the coordination of data collection, analysis and redesign of evaluation plans. She provided us with timely reports containing objective formative as well as summative cross-institutional assessment of our project activities that assisted our team (and our funding agency) in demonstrating the overall impact of our project. We recommend her highly and continue to engage her expertise for all our future projects.

Lisa‘s unique experience and skill set positions her well for delivering outstanding evaluation services to both the academic and industrial communities. Dr. Kaczmarczyk works closely with her clients to create a balanced evaluation plan that applies assessment metrics yielding insightful data. She easily operates across entire stakeholder teams (including end users) to determine and communicate progress towards project goals and objectives. Dr. Kaczmarczyk’s extensive experience with formative, developmental and summative evaluation techniques, combined with her outstanding organizational skills, ensure that project leaders always know in a timely fashion the impact of their project.

Lisa’s department head at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology recommended her as a motivational speaker for a conference that I organized in Indiana. The conference brought together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members and industry leaders in computing. Research indicates that intentional role modeling enhances recruitment and retention (R&R) for women in computing – a discipline where women are woefully under-represented. The over-riding goal of the conference also emphasized R&R. Her keynote dominated the conference. Conference assessment validated Lisa’s choice as speaker and demonstrated statistically how powerfully she delivered her message. Student after student wrote in the open-ended section of the on-line survey how meaningful and encouraging she found Lisa’s keynote. Of course, I heard the keynote too. Despite being consumed by conference details and responsibilities, Lisa’s storytelling style and hit-the-target message grabbed my attention – so much so that I remember every detail nearly four years later. How many times does that happen? Two examples: Trust your own instincts and do not pass up new opportunities when they present themselves. You know what? I subsequently resigned my job as department chair, after hearing Lisa’s message. I realized that paperwork and other chairship busywork blocked efforts where my passion lies: In R&R of women in computing. I’ll be forever grateful to Lisa and her inspiring words, because four years later I can see that I made the right decision.