Posted by Marisa Flores on Monday, October 17, 2016 in Alumni.

CDA Alumna, Lauren Berny, shares some of her experiences during her time as a CDA student.  Lauren also shares how these experiences have helped her step into the field of Program Evaluation here in Nashville, TN.  Thank you, Lauren, for sharing some of your story with us!

This photo was from the Society for Prevention Research conference in May ’16, which Lauren attended with another CDA alumna and several other HOD representatives.  

Q. Where are you from originally? What year did you graduate from CDA?  What were/are your areas of primary interest or focus?

I am originally from Northeast Ohio, but I came down to Tennessee for college at The University of the South in Sewanee, TN before attending CDA.  I graduated from CDA in 2015 with a concentration in Evaluation Research and Program Development. I came to CDA with an interest in community support and prevention/intervention related to sexual assault and domestic violence. Before beginning classes, I never pictured myself doing research or program evaluation—I pictured myself in a more of a community practitioner or policy-related role. However, once I began classes, I fell in love with social research during Community Inquiry. From there, I became increasingly interested in program evaluation—especially related to evaluating prevention programs.

Q. Where did you complete your practicum while you were in CDA? 

I completed my practicum at YWCA of Middle Tennessee.

Q. Did you complete a thesis or project?  Tell us more!

I completed a thesis during my time at CDA using data I collected at my practicum.

Abstract: While athletes have been identified as a critical population to be exposed to sexual and domestic violence prevention efforts, few studies have examined athletic coaches’ role in this area. The purpose of the present, single-group study is to evaluate a one-day educational workshop on masculinity, sexism, and violence against women with 137 athletic coaches from the Nashville Public School System. A pretest-posttest design was used to help determine athletic coaches’ ability to be allies against gender-based violence and inequality. Paired t-tests were conducted to test whether the observed changes between the pretest and posttest items were statistically significant, while multiple regression was used to reveal whether any demographic variables were predictors of change between the pretest and posttest. Findings revealed items assessing participants’ knowledge about violence against women had significant changes and larger effect sizes compared to items measuring beliefs and actions. Participants who coached exclusively male athletes were significantly less likely to believe using sexist language was problematic but were also significantly more likely to intend on using their position as coaches to speak to athletes about gender inequality. The discrepancy between this belief and intended behavior exemplifies the need for coaches to undergo further training before they can educate and model positive behaviors for athletes.

Q. Any fun facts we should know about you?

I was a History major in undergrad and went straight into CDA, so I was very nervous about how I’d fit in with so many of the other students who came in with social science backgrounds. I had a lot of anxiety about it, but it wasn’t a big deal—everybody starts in different places, and I think diverse backgrounds is what makes CDA so cool.

But real fun facts? My mom went into labor with me during The Little Mermaid, and I think it was a missed opportunity not to name me Ariel, Ursula, or (half-jokingly) Flounder (as I am basically him in real life). I had a pet duck growing up named Plucky, which was one of my best childhood experiences. I also adopted a “senior” cat named Shadow when I moved to Nashville, which was a running joke during CDA as he had a bunch of ailments/setbacks, but he is still chugging along and doing great!

Q: Where are you located now?  Where do you work and what do you do?

I am an Evaluation Associate at Centerstone Research Institute (CRI) in Nashville, TN. I am currently the Lead Evaluator for Be in Charge 2 (BIC2), a teenage pregnancy prevention program funded by the Office of Adolescent Health. BIC2 provides evidence-based, medically accurate sexual health education in 82 Tennessee and Kentucky counties. The program is in three distinct settings—schools, community centers with high-risk adolescents, and juvenile courts and detention centers. My research associates and I are responsible for tracking its reach and observing a percentage of the classes to assess implementation fidelity and quality. As Lead Evaluator, I am in charge of assessing immediate outcomes based on participants’ self-reported survey responses as well as performing an impact assessment in the final years of the grant using a quasi-experimental design pairing our treatment communities with control communities and assessing whether the program’s impact was strong enough to produce significant changes in treatment communities’ teen birth and STD rates compared to their matched communities. In addition, I supervise Research Associates on BIC2 and other grants, which I absolutely love as I enjoy connecting with others and mentoring. I am also the RedCap Consortium Partner for CRI, resident ArcGIS resource, and I am on our social committee!

Q: How did you get involved in this work?

Through a CDA alumna! Jessica Gibbons Benton, who was CDA c’13, contacted Dr. Suiter—who was a Program Evaluator at CRI prior to becoming the Director of CDA—about an open Evaluation Associate position at CRI. I was so lucky to be able to talk to Dr. Suiter and Jessica about their experiences at CRI before I applied. Currently, there are four CDA alumnae working in the Research & Evaluation Department at CRI including me and Jessica (as well as Amy Campbell, c’14 and Beth McInerney, c’15) and one working in the Clinical Model Department (Claire Bohmann, c’15). We joke that there is a CRI-CDA pipeline, but honestly, I think CRI attracts CDA students due to its mission statement, wonderful professional development opportunities, and mentors.

Q: What advice would you give to CDA students?

Be proactive! My biggest advice is what a CDA alumna, Annie Masselli, c’13, with whom I went to undergrad told me when I applied to CDA: “CDA gives you the clay, but it is up to you to mold it into what you get out of it.” CDA and Peabody/Vanderbilt in general have so many opportunities in terms of getting involved with research, partnering on projects with faculty and other students, assistantships, and a plethora of courses, but I think it is beneficial for a CDA student to be strategic in terms of leveraging those resources and being proactive in order to get all he or she can from the program and graduate school itself!

That advice really helped me think about how I could leverage CDA to get the best possible knowledge, skills, and experiences for pursuing a job in program evaluation. For example, I wanted to do a practicum that would give me a chance to do a program evaluation, which I ranked first in terms of choosing a practicum, and area of interest came second to it. While I was lucky to have a practicum that met both criteria, being strategic and going in with a plan definitely helped to guide me through my practicum. Then, when looking at my skills, I lacked statistics/quantitative experience, so I knew I needed to develop those skills in order to analyze my thesis data as well as strengthen my CV for applying to evaluation jobs. I met with Dr. Suiter about this, and she was instrumental in helping me develop a quantitative analysis independent study with Dr. Tanner-Smith at Peabody Research Institute (at that time, there was not a master’s level statistics course at Peabody). So, overall, I guess my biggest advice to CDA students in particular would be to mold your clay (with assistance from CDA faculty)!

Q. What about CDA helped prepare you for the spaces and places you are in today?

Basically, everything! Seriously, I have used skills/knowledge from all my classes, and I definitely do not hear that from friends who went to other graduate schools! Even if you question the process or objectives at the time, you will be thankful later on. Other former CDA students have agreed with me about this. In addition, my practicum was instrumental in gaining experience with program evaluation and data collection/analysis. Even TAing was helpful since I learned a lot in that class (HOD 1200), but it was also a great experience in learning what it is like to be in middle management. I also was able to present at a conference with two other students during my second year, which I think helped add to my experience.

For my job in particular, the classes I find I draw from the most have been: Community Inquiry, Pre-Practicum, Community Intervention & Change/Community Psychology, Program Evaluation, Human Development & Prevention Science, Action Research, and my quantitative independent studies with Dr. Tanner-Smith.

Q: What advice would you give to others who want to get involved in your area of work?

For Program Evaluation, I would definitely suggest joining the American Evaluation Association as they have so many resources online as well as job postings. In general, I would suggest networking with faculty and alumni. It can even be beneficial to look and see if your interests align with professors outside of CDA and ask them for informational interviews/audit relevant courses. I think informational interviews with people in fields of interest are extremely helpful!

 

Thank you again, Lauren!