Vivien Ahrens believes that program evaluation is more than just an accountability tool. As a former Escalera Youth Program Coordinator, for her, evaluation is a vehicle for participation and a way for students and staff to communicate their experiences to the public.
Vivien aims to leverage the reflective potential of participatory evaluation to strengthen youth voice, critical consciousness, and wellbeing in informal learning spaces. In particular, Vivien collaborates with Centro Hispano of Dane County’sYouth Evaluation Team to explore students’ perspectives on their after-school programs.
In addition, Vivien is a Project Assistant with the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions. Here, she supports the qualitative analysis of students’ experiences with college internships.
Education and Relevant Experience
Vivien earned a Bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology and art education and a Master’s in cultural anthropology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany. During her Master’s studies, Vivien spent one year at the Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil, studying museology and social sciences and conducting collaborative field research with the Projeto Ecomuseu São Jose Dos Campos.
While in Munich, Germany, Vivien facilitated various educational formats and international exchanges, including MindLinks(a student-refugee exchange platform), PerspektivenBilden(a seminar for youth in orientation phases), and global learning workshops with Commit e.V.and GLOBE.
Sample blog posts
- Rethinking Museum, Redefining Value: Projecto Ecomuseu’ | Campos de São José, Brasil
- “I’m the luckiest illustrator in history”: Interview with Michael Hirshon | Wisconsin, U.S.
- ‘Unexpected Homes’: An Interview with photographer and film-maker Tatjana Henderieckx | Vietnam and Belgium
- Creative Connections: Improvising Across Disciplines
Department
- Civil Society & Community Studies
Degree Program
- PhD Human Ecology: Civil Society & Community Research
Contact
Email: vahrens@wisc.edu