The Heller School for Social Policy and Management

Cathy Burack

Senior Fellow

Cathy Burack's photo

Contact

Email: burack@brandeis.edu
Office: Heller-Brown Building 372
Phone: 781-736-3762
Brandeis Directory

Expertise

Higher Education Policy & Management; Faculty Roles and Rewards; Civic Engagement, Evaluation; College Access; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; STEM

Degrees

  • Harvard University
    Ed.D.
  • University of Rochester
    B.A.

Cathy Burack

Senior Fellow

Profile

Cathy Burack is a Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Youth and Communities (CYC) in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
Cathy works with universities, foundations, and community organizations to use evaluation to both “prove” and “improve” their programs. Her research and capacity-building efforts attend to both outcomes, impact, and systemic change. In addition to working with individual organizations, Cathy and her colleagues have supported efforts to increase the strategic evaluation capacity of foundations, non-profit organizations, and colleges and universities by partnering with consortia such as the Massachusetts Service Alliance, Campus Compact, the GreenLight Fund, the Corporation for National and Community Service, YouthBuild, and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation.
Cathy also served as a Brandeis University Ombuds from 2017-2019.
Cathy's work is under-girded by her core beliefs in the power of reflective practice, collaboration, importance of creating learning organizations, capacity building, and development of communities and the individuals who inhabit them.
Cathy holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Rochester, and a Doctorate in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University.

Scholarship

  • Burack, C., Melchior, A., Hoover, M.. "Do After-School Robotics Programs Expand the Pipeline into STEM Majors in College?." Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER) 9. 2 (2019): https://doi.org/10.7771/2157-9288.1244.
  • Melchior A., Burack, C., Hoover, M., Haque, Z.. FIRST Longitudinal Study: Findings at 48 Month Follow-up (Year 5 Report). Waltham, MA Center for Youth and Communities, Brandeis University: 2018.
  • Melchior, Alan, Burack, Cathy, Hoover, M., Marcus, J. FIRST Longitudinal Student: Participant Characteristics, Program Experience and Impacts at Follow-up. Year 3 Report. Waltham, MA Center for Youth and Communities, Brandeis University: 2016.
  • Berger, S., Burack, C., Lanspery, S., Duffy, D.. Meaningful Connections: Service-Learning, Peer Advocacy and Student Success.. Boston, MA: Campus Compact, 2015.
  • Burack, Cathy, ed. Handbook of engaged scholarship: Contemporary Landscapes, Future Directions. East Lansing Michigan: Michigan State University Press, 2010.
  • Cress, C., Burack, C., Giles Jr., D. et al. "A Promising Connection: Increasing College Access and Success through Civic Engagement." Campus Compact (2010): <http://www.compact.org/resources-for-presidents/>.
  • Fitzgerald, H. E., Burack, C., & Seifer, S. (Eds), ed. Handbook of engaged scholarship: Contemporary Landscapes, Future Directions.. First ed. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2010.
  • Burack, Cathy/ Hollander, Elizabeth. How Young People Develop Long-Lasting Habits of Civic Engagement: A Conversation on Building a Research Agenda. Proc. of How Young People Develop Long-Lasting Habits of Civic Engagement: A Conversation on Building a Research Agenda. Spencer Foundation, Chicago, IL: http://www.servicelearning.org/library/lib_cat/index.php?library_id=8660, 2009.