Emil J. Posavac

Emil J. Posavac (Ph.D., University of Illinois, Champaign) is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Loyola University of Chicago, where he served as director of the Applied Social Psychology Graduate Program and chairman of the Psychology Department.

He believes that everyone does program evaluation and that everyone should evaluate more wisely than we usually do. When you pick a college, or apply for a job, or vote for a candidate, you have done a program evaluation. When politicians make policies for other people and spend other people's money, it is important to evaluate wisely. Valid evaluations can lead us to more effective novel efforts, the improvement of existing efforts, and the weeding out of ineffective ones. We really ought to do it better.

Prof. Posavac has consulted with a number of public and private organizations. He has published scores of papers and chapters, edited or co-edited six volumes on program evaluation and applied social psychology, and written numerous evaluation reports for health care and educational institutions. He has written a textbook (with Eugene B. Zechmeister) on statistical analysis based on emerging orientations that emphasize a more complete understanding and presentation of data. In 1990, he was awarded the Myrdal Award by the American Evaluation Association for his contributions to the advancement of program evaluation practice. Since his retirement from Loyola he has taught at the University of Rochester (Simon Graduate School of Business), Rochester Institute of Technology, and Trevecca Nazarene University. He teaches English as a Second Language at his church in Franklin, Tennessee.