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We are delighted to announce that Judith M. Gueron of MDRC has been selected to receive the 2008 Peter H. Rossi Award for Contributions to the Theory or Practice of Program Evaluation. (To read her acceptance remarks, please click here.)

Judith Gueron is an Independent Scholar in Residence and President Emerita at MDRC, formerly the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation. Gueron joined MDRC as Research Director at its founding in 1974 and served as its President from 1986 through August 2004.

At MDRC, Gueron directed many of the largest federal and state evaluations ever undertaken of interventions for low-income adults, youth, and families. She was a pioneer in developing research methods that have made it possible to base social programs on rigorous evidence of effectiveness. As President, she also guided the organization�s expansion into such areas as supports for the working poor, education reforms, child development, and community-based initiatives.

Photo by Rich Schmitt

Gueron is a widely published, nationally recognized expert on employment and training, poverty, and family assistance, and is the author of From Welfare to Work. She is past President of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, has served on several National Academy of Sciences committees and federal advisory panels, and has frequently testified before Congress. In 1988, Gueron was awarded the American Evaluation Association�s Myrdal Prize for Evaluation Practice in recognition of high-quality studies of employment issues. In 2005, she received the inaugural Richard E. Neustadt Award from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

As one of Gueron�s nominators concluded: �Judy, more than anybody else, has been instrumental in promoting appreciation for and acceptance of randomized controlled trials among the practitioner community, has educated policy makers on the credibility and applicability of the findings, and has mentored so many individuals and organizations in the conduct of such studies with uncompromising standards.�

Another nominator said: �It's easy to forget that randomized field experiments that test promising policy initiatives have a relatively short history. Their prevalence and acceptability in many quarters today is due in no small part to the pioneering work done at MDRC which demonstrated both their feasibility and value. As the President of MDRC during this germinal period, Judy played a critical and active role in these events.�