Melanie Hwalek, Ph.D.
Melanie is founder and president of SPEC Associates. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Applied Social Psychology from Wayne State University and a B.S. in Biology from Niagara University. Melanie’s concentration is in applied research design and methodology and psychometrics – the measurement of psychological and social concepts. In addition to her work for the past 26 years directing evaluations for SPEC, Melanie provides training and technical assistance on the topics of program evaluation and outcome measurement. She is one of only seven professionals throughout the U.S. selected by the United Way of America for its pool of national outcome measurement consultants. She is also a contributor to the National Institute of Medicine's Healthy People 2000 and is on the Board of Directors of the American Evaluation Association.
Jane Damren, MSN, CPHQ
Jane is a Project Associate at SPEC. She holds a BSN and MSN from Wayne State University. Jane’ Master’s degree is in Children and Adolescent Mental Health Nursing. She also received the status of Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality granted by the National Association for Healthcare Quality. Jane is the Director of Quality Improvement for Northeast Guidance Center, a community-based mental health organization serving the greater Detroit area. She has 27 years of experience in behavioral health care and substance abuse treatment, both in community mental health and acute care in-patient settings. Her expertise includes medical records review audits, satisfaction surveys, risk management analysis, recipient rights and customer service, staff development, education and training, and policy and procedure development including external audits and surveys for licensing with the State of Michigan and accreditation both with the JCAHO and CARF. Jane is on the Detroit Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency Taskforce for developing standards of best practice for mentally ill adults and adults with development disabilities. She also serves on the Recipient Rights Advisory Board for St. John Detroit Riverview Hospital; and is coordinating a pilot program for Self-Determination with mentally ill adults.
Brian Dates, M.A.
Brian is a Project Associate at SPEC. He holds an M.A. in Applied Developmental Psychology from Oakland University and a B.A. in Psychology from Wayne State University. Brian is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan and the Director of Quality Assurance at Southwest Detroit Community Mental Health Agency. He has evaluated many programs in juvenile justice, corrections, substance abuse and mental health. Brian is an Executive Board Member of the Michigan Association for Evaluation.
Victoria Straub, M.A.
Victoria is a Managing Partner and Project Manager at SPEC. She holds a Master’s degree from Wayne State University (WSU) in Sociology, a B.S. in Management Systems from GMI Engineering and Management Institute and a Post-Baccalaureate in Service Agency Administration from WSU. She has over 10 years of experience in evaluation project management for local and national studies. Her expertise is primarily in the areas of quality assurance, systems design, and management. In addition to the projects she manages, Victoria assures that plans and products produced by SPEC Associates meet high standards of validity, reliability and quality. She is a Board Member of the Michigan Association for Evaluation and on the Finance Committee of the American Evaluation Association.
Amy R. Juntunen, M.A.
Amy Juntunen is a Project Manager at SPEC. She holds a Master’s degree from Wayne State University in Interdisciplinary Studies. For more than 25 years, she has been involved in the field of survey research. She has designed hundreds of questionnaires for surveying a wide range of populations from pre-school children through high risk juveniles to home-bound elderly. She has surveyed executive directors of social service agencies, people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer survivors, neighborhood leaders, and runaway and homeless youth. Amy also has expertise in qualitative methods of data collection. She has conducted ethnographic case studies of a variety of programs in recreation centers, homeless shelters, health clinics and schools. She also facilitates focus group interviews with a wide range of participants. Amy has developed "how to" manuals sharing her expertise in proper interviewing techniques.
Linda Knispel, M.A.A.
Linda is a Researcher at SPEC. She is an applied anthropologist experienced in evaluation research. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Michigan State University and a Master of Applied Anthropology from University of Maryland, College Park. Having facilitated focus groups, performed informal and formal interviews, and designed and administrated surveys, Linda is practiced in both quantitative and qualitative data collection. As an anthropologist, she specializes in ethnographic and qualitative data analysis.
Shannan McNair, Ed.D.
Shannan is a Project Associate at SPEC, and an Associate Professor of Human Development and Child Studies at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. She has taught in the Master’s and Doctoral programs for Early Childhood Education since 1994. Her expertise in teaching and research are science and mathematics for young children, gender studies, assessment of student learning in K-12 and higher education, educational program administration and program evaluation. Her experience includes classroom teaching, administration, research, development and evaluation. She developed assessment materials for classroom teachers, developed training workshops, made presentations nationally and internationally, and consulted locally and nationally on educational and evaluation projects. She serves in a leadership capacity in professional groups, and reviews books, submissions to professional journals, and grant proposals.
Ruth A. Mohr, Ph.D., M.P.H., B.S.N.
Ruth is a Project Associate at SPEC specializing in evaluation and planning for health-related programs. She holds a Ph.D. in Health Services Organization and Policy (University of Michigan), a Master of Public Health in Health Education (UCLA), and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (Illinois Wesleyan University). She is a Registered Nurse and a Certified Health Education Specialist. Formerly senior research scientist at the Michigan Public Health Institute, Dr. Mohr has over 35 years of experience in various areas of the health care field (including community, academic, and clinical settings). She has authored numerous evaluation reports and presentations, many with a focus on cancer control programs and inter-organization collaboration development; is a member of the CDC/ORC Macro Comprehensive Cancer Control Evaluation Task Order Advisory Committee; and co-authored Reengineering Health Care: Building on CQI. Recently, Ruth served as consultant to the Michigan State Commission on Patient Safety for the development of the report to Governor Granholm and the citizens of Michigan on improving patient safety in Michigan’s health care system and on the Rock Street Consulting Group team to evaluate medical care access projects in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.