Barrington, Gail V.

(b. 1945, Montreal, Quebec, Canada). Ph.D. Educational Administration, University of Alberta, Canada; M.A. English Literature, Carleton University, Canada; B.A. English Literature, McGill University, Canada.

Barrington has owned and managed Barrington Research Group, Inc., since 1985, shepherding it from a sole proprietorship to an incorporated company with more than 20 employees. She has managed or conducted more than 100 program evaluation studies, many in the areas of education and health promotion. Key studies include the midterm evaluation of the Hepatitis C Prevention, Support & Research Program (Health Canada 2002); the evaluation of the HIV/AIDS Initiative for Young Adults (Alberta Health 1993–1998); the Evaluation of the Peer Counseling Program; Alberta Safe House (The Muttart Foundation, 1993–1996); and the Integrated Services Review, Yellowhead School Division No. 12 (The Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with [Page 31]Disabilities and Alberta Education, 1991). This latter study won the 1992 Annual Evaluation Report Awards Competition, Division H, American Educational Research Association.

Since 1995, Barrington has been the national evaluator for the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program, a holistic, community-based program for high-risk pregnant women that is offered by approximately 350 community-based agencies and funded by the Population and Public Health Branch of Health Canada. This study has been described in the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation as an exemplary evaluation that demonstrates that an empowerment approach can be successful in the evaluation of important large-scale innovative programs intended to lead systemwide change. She manages a companion evaluation for a similar program offered for Inuit projects and funded by the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada.

Key characters from literature and a fondness for mystery and detective novels have fuelled Barrington's curiosity about the human condition and what makes organizations tick. Being a teacher and adult educator has also helped to frame her approach to working with clients, as every project becomes a teaching opportunity. When she opened her independent consulting firm, which specializes in program evaluation, role models were few, and she credits the panel presentation on independent consulting by Deborah Bonnet, Tara Knott Davis, and Michael Hendriks at the 1985 joint AEA/CES conference in Toronto with encouraging her to pursue this goal. Barrington's popular annual workshop on consulting skills stems from this event; with it, she hopes to inspire others as they inspired her.

In 2001, she cochaired the Canadian Evaluation Society annual conference in Banff, Alberta. She is currently a Certified Management Consultant and a member of the Canadian Evaluation Society, the American Evaluation Association (and a member of the AEA Ethics Committee), Phi Delta Kappa, the Professional Market Research Association, and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.