Sarah-Kathryn McDonald is a
Principal Research Scientist in NORC's University of Chicago-based Academic
Research Centers. She brings evaluation, policy analysis, program
monitoring, strategic communication, and senior management expertise to a
variety of NORC impact assessment and research projects. McDonald
has more than 25 years’ experience serving as a policy analyst, social
researcher, academic, public affairs advisor, and senior manager with
governmental, for profit, and not-for-profit organizations in the U.S. and
Europe. Since 2002 she has collaborated with faculty, clients, and staff
at NORC on a range of impact evaluations and other research and technical
assistance projects funded by organizations including the National Science
Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, National Research Council, and Alfred
P. Sloan Foundation.
Prior to joining NORC McDonald served as a public affairs
consult and member of the board of directors of an EU government relations
firm, faculty in the Department of Management at Birkbeck College in the
University of London, and Member of the College’s Board of Governors. On
returning to the U.S. she worked to promote the use of research findings for
educational improvement and planning as Associate Director for Policy Outreach
of the Consortium on Chicago School Research. Other prior appointments
include positions with the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the British General
Election Study at Oxford University's Nuffield College, the London School of
Economics and Political Science, and The Rowland Company, a subsidiary of
Saatchi & Saatchi PLC.
McDonald’s (single and collaboratively-authored) works are published
among other places in Business Strategy and Public Policy: Perspectives
from Industry and Academia (Marcus et al., Eds.), Divided Nation: Social and
Cultural Change in Britain (McDowell, Sarre, and Hamnett, Eds.), Educational
Researcher, Electoral Studies, Evaluation Exchange, Handbook on Education
Policy Research (Plank, Schneider, & Sykes, Eds.), Industry and the British
Economy, International Encyclopedia of Education (McGaw, Peterson, & Baker,
Eds.), Journal of Official Statistics, Reader’s Guide to the Social Sciences
(Michie, Ed.), Telecommunications Policy, The American Sociologist, and
The Dynamics of International Competition: From Practice to Theory
(Atamer, Calor, & Nunes, Eds.).
Sarah-Kathryn MacDonald is on leave during this coming academic year to serve as a visiting research scientist at the National Science Foundation under an IPA.