Category: Candidate Bios

Hillary Hanson is the Assistant Director of the University of Chicago Survey Lab. She started her survey research career at the Survey Lab in 2011 as a project coordinator and currently specializes in web surveys and in planning, staffing, training, and monitoring progress for field studies. She especially enjoys the opportunity to train students in data collection methods and to introduce them to the field of survey research. Hillary has been a member of MAPOR since 2011 and appreciates the approachable nature of the conference and the opportunity to learn from other attendees who do similar work. She also regularly attends and presents at the International Field Directors and Technologies Conference (IFD&TC). Hillary received her BS in psychology from Iowa State University and completed the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago.

Leah Dean is a survey scientist in the Survey Research Division at RTI International. Her expertise is in health surveys and health policy. She has served on the MAPOR Council and as a member of the MAPOR Conference Committee since 2020. She also serves as a member of AAPOR’s Transparency Initiative Committee. Leah earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati, where she worked at the Institute for Policy Research prior to joining RTI International. She is also a member of the board of directors for the Red River Gorge Climber’s Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and conservation in the Red River Gorge region of Kentucky. Leah serves as secretary to the organization and assists in the planning and execution of their major fundraiser.

Kevin Ulrich is the Director of the University of Chicago Survey Lab. In this role he plans, implements, and oversees data collection and consulting services for academic and non-profit organizations. His expertise includes developing and applying strategies to efficiently maximize recruitment and retention of survey participants. Kevin regularly develops and conducts training on survey methodology and data collection procedures with research assistants and staff. Kevin previously managed the Survey Research Program at Group Health Research Institute (now the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute). In that role, he oversaw and managed data collection for all survey-related studies and provided methodological consultation to the Institute’s faculty and their collaborators. 

Kevin has been an AAPOR and MAPOR member since 2006. He joined the MAPOR Executive Council in 2015 and served as the webinar coordinator in 2015 and 2016. He was the Associate Secretary Treasurer in 2017 and 2018 and has been the Secretary Treasurer since 2019. In 2019, Kevin led the group that developed MAPOR’s Operational Reserve Policy. Kevin was a member of AAPOR’s online education subcommittee from 2016-2020. He has also served on the Executive Council of the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations (AASRO). Kevin holds a BA and MA in social science from the University of Chicago. He is a US Navy veteran.

Kevin has significantly benefitted both professionally and personally from being a MAPOR member and is eager to continue his MAPOR service and colleagueship as Vice President/President-Elect.

Bob Davis is the president and second generation owner of the public opinion research company Davis Research.  Bob has served on the board of PAPOR for 10 years, including the 3 year president track, membership chair and councilor at large in charge of education.  Bob is an engaged member of the AAPOR membership family including heading up AAPOR’s Task force on TCPA.  A lot has changed in research since his first job in the early 1970’s where his mom paid him $0.25 an hour to tape quarters to mail surveys.  He looks forward to learning from MAPOR and sharing his learning from his years on PAPOR’s council.

Dana Garbarski is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Loyola University Chicago. In 2018, she started a 3-year concurrent position as the Farrell Endowed Assistant Professor in Gannon Center for Women and Leadership. In this position, Dana is in charge of developing programming for faculty at her university that aids in fostering their research and professional development, in direct alignment with the goals of MAPOR Council’s updated Mission and Vision statements. As a sociologist, Dana’s research goals are to examine and inform the valid and reliable collection of survey data on health and well-being, with an intersectional focus on dimensions of race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexuality. Her methodological focus is on survey methodology, as surveys are a core methodology through which social, behavioral, and medical researchers learn about the health and well-being of populations. Her work has been published in several journals in the fields of sociology, public opinion, survey research, and health. Dana has been a member of MAPOR since moving to Chicago in 2014. She has been serving on MAPOR Council since November 2015, first as a member-at-large and member of the MAPOR Conference Committee, then as Associate Conference Chair (2018) and now Conference Chair (2019). In addition, she organized the 2017 Interviewer-Respondent Interaction Working Group meeting at the MAPOR conference, and planned, organized, and moderated a panel on Women and Leadership in 2018. Dana has enjoyed working with and learning from the many wonderful volunteers on MAPOR Council and is looking forward to continuing her MAPOR service as Vice President/President-Elect.

Stephanie Chardoul is the Director of Survey Research Operations (SRO) at the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center (Institute for Social Research). She started in her current Director position February 2019, but has been with the Survey Research Center since 1990. During her tenure at SRC, she has been the Manager of the Survey Services Laboratory (telephone facility and more), a Survey Director, Director of the Project Design and Management Group (project managers and directors), and Director of Proposals (new project intake and design). Her substantive interests include cross-cultural survey methods, building survey research infrastructure, and mental health. Her presentation at MAPOR last year was on using event history calendars to improve recall and reporting rates on a survey of mental health in Nepal. Stephanie has been a member of the Data Collection Coordinating Centre for the long-running World Mental Health Survey Initiative (30+ countries, since 1999), and is the Director of the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) Training Centre. As SRO Director, she leads a department of 170 full-time staff and up to 1000 interviewers across the country. Throughout her career, Stephanie has been involved with both IFDTC and AAPOR, and more recently has become active with MAPOR and AASRO and values these organizations especially for their smaller size and opportunities for learning and sharing.

Lindsey Witt-Swanson has been with the Bureau of Sociological Research (BOSR) at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln for eight years. As the Associate Directors, Lindsey assists clients and researchers with their research and evaluation projects, ensures that BOSR is utilizing the most up-to-date methods and knowledgeable of changes in the field, oversees BOSR’s staff of 125 employees, and is responsible for BOSR’s financial health and growth. Lindsey currently serves as the chair of the Survey Committee for the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations (AASRO) and co-treasurer for the International Field Directors and Technologies Conference (IFD&TC). Lindsey has been a member of AAPOR and MAPOR since joining BOSR. Lindsey received her BA in Political Science at Creighton University and her MS in Survey Research and Methodology at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. 

Y. Patrick Hsieh is a research survey methodologist and digital sociologist in the Survey Research Division at the RTI International. International. His expertise includes developing mixed-method research, designing social media campaign for sample recruitment, and integrating digital technologies and technology-enabled research practices, such as crowdsourcing and citizen science, into survey methodology to improve research design and data quality. Patrick has served on the MAPOR Council as the webinar series coordinator since 2016 and is a member of MAPOR Conference Committee since 2018. He also assisted the AAPOR Education Committee’s Diversity Subcommittee to organize and host the very first SurveyFest in Chicago in 2018. Patrick earned his Ph.D. in media, technology, and society at Northwestern University’s School of Communication in 2014, prior to joining RTI International. Patrick’s dissertation has won the best student paper award of MAPOR in 2013 and he has been attending MAPOR since then. He looks forward to continuing his MAPOR service as Associate Conference Chair.