Durham, NH -  The Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire today announced that they have added two new key members to their staff.

Barbara Wauchope has joined the Carsey Institute as a Research Associate Professor. She is a sociologist interested in the challenges children and families face living in today’s changing communities. At the Carsey Institute, her expertise in program evaluation will help organizations seeking to address these challenges by learning the outcomes and impacts of their work and ways to improve their program interventions, products, and services.

Dr. Wauchope has twenty years experience in the direction, design, and implementation of research and evaluation studies. As a Senior Research Associate at RMC Research Corporation, a private research and evaluation consulting firm in Portsmouth, N.H., Dr. Wauchope conducted evaluations of grant-funded projects for federal and state government, foundation, nonprofit organization, and school district clients. Most were evaluations of school-based and social service programs or initiatives with the goal of improving the academic, economic, or health circumstances of low-income at-risk families and children. She has also conducted research on child care, child abuse, and intimate partner violence. She received a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of New Hampshire.

Mica Stark has joined the Institute in the newly created role of Outreach and Engagement Director. In this position, he will help the Carsey Institute develop and strengthen relationships with regional policy centers and nonprofits, as well as help bring the institute’s work to policy makers and practitioners. A significant part of Stark’s work will be to bring the Carsey Institute’s resources and programs to the UNH Manchester campus, where he will work with Dean Kristin Woolever to develop a new applied research center that focuses on immigration and small city urban studies. In addition, he will also be working with the Provost’s office on the Democracy Imperative, a national initiative, based at UNH, designed to advance deliberative democracy in and through higher education.

Before joining the Carsey Institute, Mr. Stark spent the last five years at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College where he managed presidential debates and developed and led a number of new civic engagement initiatives. Mica has worked with several nonprofits, including City Year New Hampshire, where he was the founding board co-chair. He currently serves as vice president of the Piscataquog Watershed Association, a regional land trust west of Manchester. He earned his M.A. in political theory from Michigan State University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of New Hampshire.

Carsey Institute Director Mil Duncan notes, “We are delighted to have Mica and Barbara join the Carsey. Barbara’s extensive experience in evaluation and her research capacity will deepen the Institute’s abilities to serve community organizations with rigorous policy and applied research. Mica will help us build our relationship with the Manchester campus and community, as well as further our active engagement with the state’s nonprofits. His leadership experience in civic engagement in the state will help us get good analysis and resources to the policymakers and practitioners in the state who are working on behalf of families and communities.”

The Carsey Institute is a leading national center for policy research on youth, working families, and sustainable development in small cities and rural communities. Our studies provide tools for policy makers and community leaders working to increase upward mobility, support the middle class, and create sustainable, healthy communities. Our three applied and policy research programs include regional and national projects, and our resources support organizations throughout the country.