Previous Team Members

Dr. Boyns is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at California State University at Northridge. He has over 15 years of experience in the area of evaluation research. His evaluation efforts have been in the areas of education, health and wellbeing, and conflict resolution and violence prevention. He has conducted evaluations for multi-million dollar education programs funded by the United States Department of Education, for statewide evaluations funded by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and for local-level community organizations in the county of Los Angeles. His evaluation efforts have employed both quantitative and qualitative methods, and have included: 1) online and face-to-face questionnaire design and validation; 2) complex sampling techniques and multi-site evaluations; 3) developing, merging, and analyzing large data sets; 4) descriptive and multivariate inferential statistical analysis including logistic regression, discriminate modeling, path analysis, structural equation modeling, and scaling techniques; 5) structured, semi-structured, unstructured, and focus group interviewing; 6) ethnography and field observations; and 7) the analysis of qualitative data using computer assisted qualitative data analysis software. He has conducted needs assessments, outcome and impact evaluations, and program implementation analysis within complex organizations, with multilingual and low income communities, and with youth and their families. He is currently the Research and Evaluation Consultant for the CSUN Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing and is conducting evaluation activities for the Child Development Institute in Canoga Park. He presently teaches courses in the areas of research methods and evaluation research. He is also the current committee chair for the CSUN Standing Advisory Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects.

Dr. Burke is an Associate Professor and the director of the Public Health Promotion Program Director at California State University, Northridge.  She has 10 years of experience with evaluation including contract projects for qualitative, quantitative evaluation for hospitals, health-based nonprofits, and public health agencies.  Dr. Burke also has 15 years of experience in conducting needs assessments, program evaluation and analysis (process, impact, and outcome) in community and public health settings.   Her evaluation projects have been centered in working with diverse individuals including priority populations including African Americans, Latinos (Migrant Farmworkers), and American Indian populations.  She has conducted evaluations in both Spanish and English.  Dr. Burke has published journal articles resulting from evaluation and research studies in these areas.  She has also taught graduate and undergraduate courses in research design and methods and evaluation for close to 10 years.

Dr. Scott Plunkett is a professor of psychology (http://www.csun.edu/plunk). He has a Ph.D. in human environmental sciences with an emphasis in family relations and child development. He has extensive background in evaluating university programs (e.g., peer/faculty mentoring, peer tutors, developing research infrastructure, developing Head Start professionals) and community programs (e.g., parenting education, sex education for individuals with developmental disabilities, book flood, youth volunteer). His research investigates individual, family, peer, school, and neighborhood qualities related to adolescents’ and emerging adults’ mental health and academics.

Dr. Cabello served as the Associate Dean of the Michael D. Eisner College of Education and has over thirty years of experience in designing and conducting multi-method evaluations on bilingual education program impact, bilingual assessment, classroom interaction in multicultural/multilingual settings, and teacher preparation effectiveness at regional and national centers such as the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST), the Far West Laboratory (WestEd), and at the Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD) Evaluation Unit. Implemented both quantitative and qualitative methods including database design, analysis of large scale data, design of online questionnaires, individual and focus group interview protocols, classroom observations and classroom discourse analysis. Collaborated in the design and implementation of the electronic data warehouse system for the Michael D. Eisner College of Education.  As associate dean was responsible for guiding college departments in data collection, providing analysis of data, guiding them in interpreting programmatic data analysis and report writing and writing state and national accreditation reports for the college. Beverly retired in 2020.

Alby was previously CAREs administrative support coordinator and held the position for three years. She has a deep passion for science communication and program development. Alby’s computer science and astrophysics background provided CARE with a unique perspective on how to solve problems and manage CARE’s projects. She created the CARE database, assisted with our website’s development, and truly shaped the way CARE runs today. Alby currently works as the Contracts, Grants, and Research Development Officer in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences at CSUN. You may also catch her at the CSUN planetarium running the star shows!

Graduate Student Assistants

• Danielle Morales
• Liam Cascelli
• Diana Lozano
• Indira Martinez-Dubon
• Peivand Razavi
• Lauren Knox
• Matthew Hoover

Undergraduate Student Assistants

• Alexis McKeever