Emily Gates
Associate Professor of Evaluation at Boston College
Background
Emily Gates is an associate professor at Boston College. Her work focuses on the role of evaluation in designing, implementing, and adapting interventions to address complex problems and foster systems change. She has published over 30 articles and chapters and co-authored two books: Evaluating and Valuing in Social Research (2021) and Evaluative Inquiry for Systemic Change (forthcoming, 2025). In 2023, Gates received the American Evaluation Association's Promising New Evaluator Award.
At the School of System Change
Emily is a facilitator on Methodological Bricolage for Evaluating Systems Change, part of the summer 2025 Seedling Series: short courses supporting changemakers to embrace complexity through discovering the diversity of systemic approaches and practitioners.
"Systems change presents a significant opportunity for evaluators to partner with funders and changemakers early on and embed ongoing work to assess and develop the value of change efforts."
