Posavac, Emil J.

(b. 1939, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Ph.D., M.A. Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign; B.D., Concordia Theological Seminary; B.S. Civil Engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University.

Posavac is Professor of Psychology at Loyola University of Chicago. He brings an eclectic background in engineering, theology, and psychology to the evaluation field. His scholarship reflects this eclectic background in his publications on statistics and research methods, evaluation, and social psychology.

Posavac's textbook (coauthored with R. G. Carey) Program Evaluation: Methods and Case Studies (currently in its sixth edition) is widely used in teaching evaluation and espouses a pragmatic approach to evaluation that encourages program staff and management to engage in self-evaluation. From its first edition in 1980, it has focused on the skills internal evaluators need as they work with managers and staff and endorsed the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. With this text, Posavac's influence over a generation of evaluators is notable.

His work has been strongly influenced, as have so many others, by the work of Donald Campbell. Posavac identifies the dynamism of contemporary society and rapid technological change as creating ever more challenging demands on program evaluators. In this context, he finds inspiration in the work of Michael Scriven and Mark Lipsey. In particular, they remind evaluators that the search for the truth, elusive though it may be, about services, programs, and policies is what evaluation is about.

Posavac was awarded the American Evaluation Association's Myrdal Award for his contributions to evaluation practice in 1990.