The Center for Program Evaluation (CPE) is hosting an Open House on Wednesday, Dec. 3, from 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. in Room 109 of the Mackay Science building.

The Center provides complete program evaluation services and professional development to faculty, students, and other local organizations. As an interdisciplinary, grant-funded center, CPE is committed to working with clients to produce information that can be used to help grow organizations and improve programs and services. CPE can assist with writing the evaluation portion of grant proposals, providing technical assistance, or comprehensive program evaluations.

“We help look at programs, to see what’s working well, what needs to be improved,” said Elizabeth Christiansen, interim director of CPE. “We collect data and write reports about the effectiveness of the program.”

The Center was founded in 1999 and since then has partnered with such organizations as the Nevada State Health Division Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, Washoe County School District State and Federal Programs, Washoe County Family Resource Centers, Nevada Parent Information and Resource Center, and the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

“We have a few main focuses like health and wellness, family support programs, and youth development and education,” Christiansen said.

One of the more recent and larger projects CPE recently finished is a survey project for the Washoe County District Parent Involvement Council. The Center produced a district-wide report of administrator, staff and parent survey results related to parent involvement in their children’s education and provided these reports to 95 schools in the district.

With the open house, Christiansen hopes to develop a more visible presence on campus in order to create more partnerships.

“We’ve been around since 1999 but people aren’t aware of us,” Christiansen said. “We wanted to advertise ourselves a little bit and make ourselves known.”

If you have any questions about the open house or are interested on working with CPE, please call (775) 784-4432 or email cpe@unr.edu.