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News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 04, 2001

Lumina Foundation names vice president of evaluation

INDIANAPOLIS — Lumina Foundation for Education has announced the appointment of Deborah G. Bonnet as vice president of evaluation. Effective October 15, 2001, Bonnet will design and manage evaluations of the Foundation’s grants and research work.

In announcing the appointment, Martha D. Lamkin, Foundation president and chief executive officer, said: “We plan a deliberate evaluation process to learn from our work and to help our grant recipients learn from theirs. Debbie Bonnet will provide the kind of experienced leadership needed to coordinate that effort.”

Bonnet is a nationally recognized evaluation expert with 26 years of experience. In her role as an independent consultant, she has conducted more than 100 evaluation studies in a variety of fields, including education, health, human services, community development, leadership and the arts for private foundations and nonprofit organizations.

“Lumina Foundation presents an exciting challenge,” Bonnet said. “I will have the rare opportunity to build an evaluation program from the ground up and to integrate evaluation processes and thinking into the Foundation’s structure and culture in its formative years.”

Bonnet has served on the board of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and on the advisory board of AEA’s New Directions in Evaluation quarterly journal. She has authored several articles on evaluation for trade publications, including The American Journal of Evaluation, Educational Leadership, Journal of the Association of Superior Curriculum Development and Journal of Research and Development in Education, as well as a chapter in Applied Strategies for Curriculum Evaluation.  She also has been a frequent speaker at American Evaluation Association meetings.

Bonnet holds a master’s degree in business administration from Indiana University at Indianapolis, a master’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va.

Lumina Foundation for Education, a private, independent foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access to an education beyond high school. Through research, grants for innovative programs and communication initiatives, Lumina Foundation addresses issues surrounding financial access, educational retention and degree or certificate attainment, and opportunities for nontraditional learners. The Foundation bases its mission on the belief that postsecondary education remains one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people.

For more information, contact Sara Murray-Plumer, director of communications, at 317-951-5493 or splumer@luminafoundation.org