It’s a prestigious recognition for Professor Bourgeois, whose expertise and influence in evaluation research extend to local and national non-profits and governmental organizations.
Knowing what’s working (and what isn’t) is key to advancing the goals of programs or initiatives. With rigorous evaluation practices, outcomes for organizations and the communities they serve are improved. For Bourgeois, caring about the individuals who benefit from this evidence-based decision-making motivates her to improve the science behind evaluation.
A thought leader in evaluation research
Bourgeois served as editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation from 2017 to 2022 and was instrumental in making the journal open access. She received the 2017 Karl Boudreault Award for Leadership in Evaluation and the 2021 Roland Parenteau Award for the best French-language article published in Canadian Public Administration.
Bourgeois’ research includes defining and measuring organizational evaluation capacity, leading knowledge syntheses, improving federal government evaluation practices and building evaluation capacity in Francophone communities in Québec and Ontario.
Among her most notable contributions were the development of an organizational evaluation capacity measurement instrument and a conceptual framework of organizational evaluation capacity. The instrument has had a wide-ranging impact on public and non-profit organizations. It has been used by more than 90 national and international organizations, including as part of a four-year Ontario study on public health units.
“Professor Bourgeois is a dynamic leader in the field of evaluation research, and we are fortunate to count her among our professors,” says Jess Whitley, vice-dean, research and professional development in the Faculty of Education.
“This recognition is very well deserved. On behalf of the entire Faculty and our broader community who have benefitted from Professor Bourgeois’ research, we offer our congratulations.”
Driving organizational change
“This recognition is particularly important to me because it acknowledges the work that I have been doing for more than 20 years,” says Bourgeois.
“Evaluation capacity embodies our commitment to fostering a culture of evidence-based decision-making and organizational learning. It is about empowering individuals and organizations to conduct rigorous evaluations that drive positive change and improve outcomes for communities.”
“By promoting evidence-informed programming, supporting organizational improvement and caring about program clients and beneficiaries, evaluators teach others … how (evaluation) can be used towards social betterment,” she adds.
“Evaluation capacity embodies our commitment to fostering a culture of evidence-based decision-making and organizational learning. It is about empowering individuals and organizations...”
Isabelle Bourgeois
— Full professor
About Isabelle Bourgeois
Isabelle Bourgeois was a professor at the École nationale d'administration publique (Université du Québec) from 2012 to 2019 and joined the uOttawa’s Faculty of Education in 2019 as associate professor of program evaluation. She is currently the principal investigator for the project 'Assessing and building organizational evaluation capacity in non-profit organizations,' funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Prior to entering academia, she was an evaluation manager for the federal government.
